The president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, warned on Wednesday that the number of migrant minors remaining in this Spanish enclave in North Africa after the migration crisis is “unsustainable” and called for government assistance.
About 72,000 migrants entered Ceuta last week, the vast majority by swimming or on foot, of whom around 70,000 have already returned to neighboring Morocco, according to Spanish authorities.
Additionally, the Ceuta Institute of Legal Medicine has received the bodies of 80 people who died at sea while trying to cross the border into Spain, and has performed a total of 79 autopsies, identifying two individuals.
King Felipe VI will receive Vivas this Thursday at the Marivent Palace in Palma. The audience to which Vivas has been summoned, according to the Royal Household, will take place at 6:00 p.m. at the residence of the Kings when they spend their holidays in Palma.
Prohens and Vivas meet after the Ceuta crisis and form a united front to demand a “structural” border plan from Sánchez
Before sitting down with the King this Thursday afternoon, the president of the Autonomous City of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, was received at the Balearic Government headquarters in Palma.
There the monarch vacations, and the regional president, Marga Prohens, wanted to invite Vivas to the Balearic presidency headquarters before his appointment at Marivent to show her solidarity and that of Balearic society to her party colleague.
This is the first political meeting held by the Ceuta politician with a regional head of government after the massive, illegal, and uncontrolled crossing of the border between Morocco and Spain on July 30.
Read the full news by Eduardo Colom
Brussels warns that the EU will be “vulnerable” as long as it depends on neighboring countries to protect its borders
The European Commissioner for Interior and Migration, Magnus Brunner, warned this Thursday that the European Union will remain vulnerable to migration crises like the recent one in Ceuta as long as the control of external borders depends on the “goodwill” of neighboring countries, calling for strengthening the EU’s own capacity to prevent such episodes.
“As long as control depends on the goodwill of a neighboring state, we will remain vulnerable,” he said during his appearance before the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, where he advocated drawing “the correct lessons” from the Ceuta crisis to strengthen European migration policy.
Galicia demands a “serious and consensual” migration policy with the autonomous communities after what happened in Ceuta
The Minister of Social Policy and Equality of Galicia, Fabiola García, has demanded from the Government a “serious” and “consensual” migration policy with all the communities, following the massive arrival of migrants in Ceuta.
During a visit to the Family Meeting Point in Lalín, the minister expressed hope that the situation does not last long and demanded from the central government “clear border control”.
Furthermore, besides consensus with the communities, she requested more funding so that the autonomous regions can continue attending to migrant minors.
The Príncipe Neighborhood Association estimates more than 4,800 migrant minors in the Ceuta neighborhood
The Príncipe Alfonso Neighborhood Association has compiled an unofficial registry with which it claims to have counted 4,860 migrants, all identified by the entity as unaccompanied foreign minors, who remain in the neighborhood one week after the massive entry recorded in Ceuta. This census lacks official status but aims to transfer the collected documentation to the competent administrations, reports Europa Press.
The association’s president, Ahmed Enfed-Dal, explained that the initiative arose after noticing that the figures provided by the Government Delegation, which place the number of migrants currently in the city at about 2,500, “did not match the reality experienced by the neighbors”.
“We wanted to know the real number of people still in the neighborhood,” he said. According to him, the registry was compiled from data voluntarily provided by people who visited the association’s headquarters in recent days.
The entity decided to stop counting after reaching 4,860 registrations, although it says migrants interested in being listed continue to arrive. “We had to stop because this is chaos. People keep coming to the association asking to be registered,” said Enfed-Dal, who insisted that the vast majority of those registered are minors, mainly between 15 and 17 years old, although children between 11 and 13 have also been identified.
Vivas asks the European Parliament for the “securing” of the Ceuta border
The president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, demanded this Thursday the “securing” of the autonomous city’s border with Morocco, which is “everyone’s,” and requested greater allocation of personnel and material resources in the area, reports Efe.
“Our population feels sad, powerless, uneasy, fearful, and worried. And they have reasons because it is inevitable to wonder if this will not happen again at another time, and that will be the definitive moment for the fall into the abyss,” Vivas said in his speech before the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, which met this Thursday by videoconference to address the situation in Ceuta.
Brussels calls for progress on directive sanctioning those who collaborate with irregular migration
The European Commissioner for Interior and Migration, Magnus Brunner, urged the EU institutions this Thursday to approve the so-called facilitation directive, presented by the Commission in 2023, which would allow member states to sanction people who collaborate with irregular migration in the EU, reports Efe.
“It is about dismantling illicit trafficking networks. And in this regard, I really count on the Parliament and urge it to adopt its position regarding the directive against illicit trafficking proposed by the Commission almost three years ago,” Brunner said in his speech before the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, which met extraordinarily by videoconference to address the situation in Ceuta.
Vivas conveys to Prohens the “serious situation” Ceuta is going through after the migration crisis
The president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, conveyed to the president of the Balearic Government, Marga Prohens, the “serious situation” that the autonomous city continues to face after the crisis caused by the entry of tens of thousands of migrants from Morocco. He did so in a courtesy audience taking advantage of his trip to Palma to meet this afternoon, at 5:30 p.m., with King Felipe VI at the Marivent Palace, reports Europa Press.
According to the Balearic Government, Vivas explained to Prohens that, a week later, the city is still far from normality and “continues to face significant difficulties in addressing the consequences of this crisis”.
Save the Children warns of risk for migrant girls in Ceuta due to sexual assaults amid “lack” of protection
Save the Children has warned that the “lack” of identification, safe accommodation, and specialized support for migrant girls in Ceuta “may increase their exposure to situations of violence, trafficking, and exploitation,” and has demanded that their protection be “an immediate priority of the response”.
In this regard, it has stated that “the protection system in Ceuta is currently under extraordinary pressure” and highlighted that “around a thousand migrant children and adolescents are already housed in centers and resources enabled, a figure that greatly exceeds the ordinary capacity of the city’s protection system, which has fewer than a hundred places”.
Additionally, the organization expresses concern about minors who have not yet been identified and transferred to protection centers. “Of the estimated 4,000 to 7,000 children and adolescents who would have arrived in Ceuta, not all have been located, and it is feared that some remain homeless, hidden in wooded areas or other parts of the city, without access to a safe place or the protection resources they need,” it laments.
In this context, Jennife Zuppiroli, migration specialist of the NGO in Spain, emphasized that “in a crisis of this magnitude, girls and adolescents can become especially invisible”.
Bendodo assures that PP governments “will comply with the law” on migrant minors: “This time too”
The Deputy Secretary of Regional, Municipal Policy and Electoral Analysis of the PP, Elías Bendodo, assured that the party’s regional governments “will comply with the law” regarding migrant minors, a matter “included” in government agreements with Vox in regions like Andalusia. “In the documents signed in autonomous communities with PP and Vox governments, it is stated that they will comply with the law on irregular immigration. The current legislation will be followed, this time too,” he said in a press briefing this Thursday in Málaga.
Furthermore, Bendodo blamed the Government for the migration “problem,” pointing to the executive’s “instability and weakness” on the matter. “The government is the one that has to solve this situation. It should not pass the buck to the communities. It is a security and immigration problem caused by this government,” he asserted. “From the Popular Party, what we say is that all those who entered illegally must leave legally,” he reaffirmed while insisting that “as always,” the party “will comply with the law”.
Fingerprints and family DNA will help identify 29 of the 80 bodies in Ceuta
Fingerprint comparison and other evidence, such as DNA provided by families, will help the Civil Guard identify 29 of the 80 people who died trying to enter Ceuta and whose bodies are at the Military Hospital of the city.
The Criminalistics Commander of the Civil Guard, Sergio Munguía, provided this figure while presenting at the Tarajal border facilities in Ceuta an office intended to collect information and data about the whereabouts of missing persons from the massive entry on July 30.
The PP demands Sánchez’s appearance in an extraordinary plenary session over the Ceuta migration crisis
The Popular Party has requested the urgent convening of the Permanent Deputation of Congress to demand the appearance of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, in an extraordinary plenary session regarding the migration crisis in Ceuta.
Additionally, the PP has requested the appearance in committee of the Ministers of Interior, Defense, Foreign Affairs, and the Presidency to explain the Government’s actions in response to the irregular entry of more than 70,000 immigrants at the autonomous city’s border, an episode that, according to the party, has resulted in around 150 deaths.
The party has reiterated a request for Sánchez’s appearance that it had already filed on July 31 and considers necessary due to the gravity of the situation. The PP accuses the Government of being indifferent to the crisis while the president is on vacation in La Mareta.
Among the requested appearances is that of the Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to detail the measures adopted regarding citizen security, immigration, and coordination of the State Security Forces and Corps, as well as the actions planned to prevent new episodes of massive entry.
The PP also demands that the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, report on the Armed Forces’ participation in the deployment during the crisis; that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, explain the diplomatic response and the impact of the situation on Spain’s international image; and that the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, detail the actions of his department as responsible for direct assistance to the Prime Minister.
Pediatricians warn that minors arriving in Ceuta cannot be a “collateral damage”
The Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP) and the Spanish Society of Social Pediatrics (SEPS) have demanded this Thursday that the protection of children and adolescents who have arrived alone in Ceuta be an “absolute priority” and warned that these minors “cannot become, under any circumstances, collateral damage”.
In a statement, both scientific societies express concern about the “special vulnerability” of minors without family reference who have arrived in the autonomous city in recent weeks and remind that all actions must be governed by the principle of the best interest of the child, recognized by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Spanish legislation.
Pediatricians emphasize that forced displacement, family separation, and exposure to traumatic situations can have lasting consequences on the physical and mental health and development of these children and adolescents.
Madrid says it has “no information” on minors from Ceuta and insists it is the Government’s “responsibility”
The Community of Madrid has stated that it has “no information” about the situation of unaccompanied foreign minors in Ceuta following last week’s migration crisis and insists that it is the Government’s “responsibility”.
The Minister of Family, Youth and Social Affairs, Ana Dávila, said this Thursday in statements to the media during a visit to the Emergency Social Service facilities that the regional government does not know “how many minors there are or what their situation is”.
“The Community of Madrid has no information from the Government about the situation beyond what we see in the media,” she demanded. Likewise, Dávila emphasized that it is the central Government’s “responsibility” to identify the minors, locate their families, and ensure their return to them. “The law dictates it,” she said.
Vox also calls for Morocco’s exclusion from organizing the 2030 World Cup
Sumar was the first to do so, registering an initiative in Congress yesterday urging a review of the joint organization of the 2030 World Cup, which will be hosted by Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. And this Thursday, Vox joined this demand, registering its own text in the Lower House to demand “the review before FIFA of Morocco’s participation as a co-host country of the 2030 World Cup, urging its exclusion”.
The party justifies this request by pointing to the “extraordinarily serious attacks and hostility to Spain’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity perpetrated by Morocco in the city of Ceuta.” “The very serious events recorded in Ceuta on July 30 and 31 have completely broken the trust and cooperation assumptions on which a shared candidacy necessarily rests,” defends Santiago Abascal’s party, which considers that in Ceuta, Morocco “has again used migration as a coercion mechanism against our country” and that this, in their view, shows it is not a “loyal partner.” Additionally, Vox demands that Congress oppose “any decision that relegates Spain’s prominence” in the World Cup and, in particular, “that the championship final be held outside our nation,” reports Paloma H. Matellano.
Fedaia asks not to turn Ceuta’s minors into a “partisan battle element”
The Federation of entities for child and adolescent care (Fedaia) has demanded that governments and parliamentary groups ensure that migrant minors who arrived in Ceuta do not become a “partisan battle element” and has called for resources to host them with dignity.
In a statement this Thursday, the federation criticized the “political use by the Government and the Moroccan monarchy that may be behind the events,” as well as the debates generated by the situation which, in their opinion, contribute to “stigmatization and dehumanization of these people”.
Fedaia recalled that this “humanitarian crisis” situation causes “hundreds of adolescents” to live in conditions of precarity and violation of fundamental rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Adolescent.
IU asks Moreno to “assume his responsibility” with the distribution of migrant minors: “Who does he obey now?”
The general coordinator of United Left (IU) Andalusia, Toni Valero, has asked the president of the Andalusian Government, Juanma Moreno, to “comply with the law” and “assume his responsibility” regarding the distribution of migrant minors from Ceuta proposed by the central Government after the Andalusian executive’s second vice president, Manuel Gavira, assured that they “would oppose” such distribution.
“What the PP is doing is extremely cowardly. It is very easy to raise your voice against children and adolescents who have arrived alone in Ceuta. That is not firmness. That is using the bodies of little kids to do politics,” he said this Thursday in an audio sent to the media.
Following the statements of the vice president and Vox leader in Andalusia, Valero asked Moreno, “What are you going to do now? Who do you obey now?”.
Ceuta recorded 329 health assists during the special operation on August 5
The Ceuta health area attended a total of 329 people during August 5, within the special operation deployed due to the emergency situation in the city. In Primary Care, centers and emergency services provided 186 assists. The Otero Health Center II, operational between 10:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., attended 141 people without any incidents. The Tarajal Health Center III remained closed during the day.
The Primary Care Emergency Service (SUAP), with regular hours from 9:00 a.m. on August 5 to 9:00 a.m. the next day, attended 21 patients, without incidents.
Meanwhile, the 061 teams provided 24 assists and managed 43 ambulance transfers. Of these, three were carried out by the Mobile Emergency Unit (UME), equipped with a doctor, nurse, medical transport technician, and driver; 13 by Basic Life Support units (SVB); 10 by Non-Assisted Transport (TNA); and 17 by Red Cross ambulances.
At the Ceuta University Hospital, the Emergency service recorded 143 assists, with three patients under observation, without any significant incidents, reports Pilar Pérez.
Montserrat (PP) demands accountability from the “incompetents” and calls for elections over the migration crisis in Ceuta
The vice president and spokesperson of the European PP Group, Dolors Montserrat, has demanded accountability from “those who were incompetent” in managing the migration crisis in Ceuta and has called for the Prime Minister to call elections for being “incapable of defending the borders”.
In an interview on ‘Telecinco’, Montserrat suggested that the massive entry of migrants through the Ceuta border on July 30 was caused by Sánchez’s inability to “defend” the border with Morocco and accused the Government of being “irresponsible” and “incompetent” in managing to “stop and defend” the El Tarajal crossing.
For this reason, due to this crisis, the European PP has promoted and will lead a debate this Thursday in the European Parliament aiming to put the migration situation of Ceuta on the table. Montserrat accused Pedro Sánchez of “standing up Europe” by not attending, she said, the proposed debate before the European chamber and claims that they “are afraid to face up” and “are incapable of providing answers”.
The Government transfers 6.5 million euros to Ceuta to strengthen migrant care
The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration has made an extraordinary credit transfer of nearly 6.5 million euros to Ceuta to reinforce aid, reception, and social-health care for migrants remaining in the autonomous city after the migration crisis last week.
According to sources from the department led by Elma Saiz, the goal is to improve care for people at the Temporary Stay Center for Immigrants (CETI) and its surroundings, with special priority for those in the most vulnerable situations.
The measures taken have allowed strengthening the reception network and expanding the CETI by 72 places thanks to collaboration from the Ministry of Interior and Defense, which transferred the necessary material from the Las Raíces reception center in Tenerife, the sources specified.
Mónica García defends criticizing Morocco’s actions in Ceuta without breaking relations: “Human rights come first”
The Minister of Health, Mónica García, has defended that the Spanish Government can collaborate and have a “good relationship” with Morocco but also be critical of its actions in the migration crisis in Ceuta, which marks one week this Thursday. “Human rights come first,” she warned.
In an interview on ‘RNE’, reported by Europa Press, the leader of Más Madrid also said that it is possible to have a “good relationship” with the neighboring country and that is compatible “with being critical of the actions in Ceuta” since, as she recalled, “dozens of lives were lost”.
“We must always demand and put human rights first. You cannot instrumentally use people who are desperate and have been exploited,” García said.
Ceuta values the king’s reception of Juan Vivas as “institutional and moral support”
The Government of Ceuta has valued this Thursday as “institutional and moral support” that King Felipe receives this afternoon the president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, at the Marivent Palace in Palma to analyze the migration crisis the autonomous city has suffered.
Sources from the Ceuta Government told EFE that the reception represents a gesture of “sensitivity, closeness, and constant attention” that the king has and has “always shown with Ceuta and that is now manifested again.” The same sources stated that the king “has always called Juan Vivas whenever there is a difficult moment and pays special attention to matters concerning the city”.
Therefore, this audience has been interpreted as a “gesture that constitutes institutional and moral support that has enormous value for the people of Ceuta at especially complex times, as well as a demonstration of the king’s commitment and interest in everything happening in the city,” they added.
The European Parliament holds an extraordinary debate on the Ceuta crisis promoted by the PP this Thursday
The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament will hold an extraordinary meeting this Thursday to address the migration crisis recorded last week in Ceuta, in a session promoted by the Popular Party in which the European Commissioner for Interior and Migration, Magnus Brunner, and the president of the Autonomous City, Juan Jesús Vivas, will participate.
The meeting, which will be held remotely between 2:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., had also invited the Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, although neither will finally participate in the session, according to PP sources.
“The extraordinary meeting with the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs will be a good opportunity to exchange views on the current situation and the lessons learned from the events in Ceuta,” Brunner said in a message posted on his social networks.
A school in Ceuta enabled to care for more than a hundred migrant minors
The Ministry of Youth and Childhood has enabled one of the two schools it requested for the urgent care of unaccompanied migrant minors in Ceuta one week after the migration crisis.
Sources from the department led by Sira Rego emphasized that, at this moment, this center houses more than a hundred minors who are being cared for and have spent their first night there.
The Ministry of Youth and Childhood has assured that since Monday, July 27, they have been “closely monitoring” the situation in Ceuta and have maintained contact and coordination with the Autonomous City Government, the Government Delegation, and other administrations “to guarantee the rights of all unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents in the city”.
The Institute of Legal Medicine performs 79 autopsies after receiving 80 bodies in Ceuta
The Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) of Ceuta has received the bodies of 80 people who died at sea while trying to cross the border into Spain, and has performed a total of 79 autopsies, identifying two individuals.
In a statement, the IML reported on Wednesday night that two autopsies have been performed and that another deceased was recovered late in the day. The Ceuta IML adds that the autopsy of the last body found will be performed this Thursday.
In the statement, the IML details that “of the 80 deceased, the body of one was recovered on July 29 and another on July 30 at seven in the morning, shortly before the massive entry of immigrants that occurred the same day at nine-thirty in the morning. Since that massive entry, therefore, 78 bodies have been recovered from the sea.”
Ceuta warns that the situation of migrant minors is “unsustainable”
The president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, warned on Wednesday that the number of migrant minors remaining in this Spanish enclave in North Africa after the migration crisis is “unsustainable” and called for government assistance.
About 72,000 migrants entered Ceuta last week, the vast majority by swimming or on foot, of whom around 70,000 have already returned to neighboring Morocco, according to Spanish figures.
King Felipe VI receives the president of Ceuta this Thursday at the Marivent Palace after the migration crisis
King Felipe VI will receive this Thursday at the Marivent Palace in Palma the president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, after the crisis caused by the entry of tens of thousands of migrants from Morocco into the autonomous city.
The audience to which Vivas has been summoned, according to the Royal Household, will take place at 6:00 p.m. at the residence of the Kings when they spend their holidays in Palma.
Last Saturday, the Royal Household reported that Felipe VI has followed with “great concern and indignation” the events that occurred in Ceuta and, to a lesser extent, in Melilla.
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