1 Dec, 2016 @ 10:58
1 min read

Spain slammed for ‘failing to protect’ gay migrants and refugees

Varios subsaharianos permanecen en el CETI de Melilla e

MÁS DE 200 INMIGRANTES ACCEDEN A MELILLA, LA MAYOR ENTRADA DESDE 2005SPAIN has been criticised for failing to protect the most vulnerable of migrants and refugees.

Rights group Amnesty has said in a report that homosexual migrants have suffered discrimination – including threats and assaults – from other people inside centres in the north African Spanish encalves of Melilla and Ceuta.

Amnesty are calling for Spain to guarantee the immediate transfer to the peninsula of those who are particularly vulnerable, and to stop cooperating on migration control with neighbouring Morocco, which it has accused of violating refugees’ rights.

“There are videos where you can see how Moroccan police hit (migrants)… make them fall and send them away,” Amnesty said, adding that Spanish officers often turn a blind eye.

The rights group interviewed some 50 people in Ceuta and Melilla, who revealed how migrants often experience police brutality, and how vulnerable migrants, including homosexuals and domestic violence victims, are not given adequate protection.

In Melilla’s centre, at least 60 people have asked for asylum after being persecuted in their home countries for their sexual orientation, but some have been waiting between six months and a year to be transferred.

Once making it to Spanish territory, migrants and refugees are taken to temporary detention centres where they must wait for officials decide whether or not they can stay.

While Syrians’ requests are acted upon immediately as it is not difficult to prove how unsafe their homes are, other nationalities have a harder time, while, according to Amnesty, standard asylum procedures are not always respected.

“The majority of people asking for asylum, except those of Syrian nationality, find themselves blocked in the limbo that is Ceuta and Melilla,” said Esteban Beltran, director of Amnesty International Spain.

More than 11,600 migrants and refugees arrived in Ceuta and Melilla last year, a 55 percent increase from 2014. The combined population of the two enclaves is just over 170,000.

 

Laurence Dollimore

Laurence Dollimore is a Spanish-speaking, NCTJ-trained journalist with almost a decade’s worth of experience.
The London native has a BA in International Relations from the University of Leeds and and an MA in the same subject from Queen Mary University London.
He earned his gold star diploma in multimedia journalism at the prestigious News Associates in London in 2016, before immediately joining the Olive Press at their offices on the Costa del Sol.
After a five-year stint, Laurence returned to the UK to work as a senior reporter at the Mail Online, where he remained for two years before coming back to the Olive Press as Digital Editor in 2023.
He continues to work for the biggest newspapers in the UK, who hire him to investigate and report on stories in Spain.
These include the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Mail Online, Mail on Sunday and The Sun and Sun Online.
He has broken world exclusives on everything from the Madeleine McCann case to the anti-tourism movement in Tenerife.

GOT A STORY? Contact newsdesk@theolivepress.es or call +34 951 273 575 Twitter: @olivepress

1 Comment

  1. I got this crazy idea but it might work. what if every single man in Europe went there,married one and got the hell out of there… I just got this idea. Watching this tragedy is quickly becoming unbar4able for me. i could turn my head but HELL NO! That’s not an option. I’m going to do it. To hell with this crewl world and its inhumane treatement of hour people. LETS ALL DO THIS!!

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