Ceuta Hires Darija Interpreters to Aid Repatriation of Moroccan Minors

The state-owned company, Tragsatec, has been selected to recruit the nine translators/interpreters including Darija and with a good command of the French language, who will support the social workers during the individual interviews with the minors. It will receive the sum of 100,728 euros for this service.

The Ceuta authorities will call on these interpreters to facilitate exchanges during these mandatory interviews in the process of repatriating the Moroccan minors who arrived en masse last May. To date, Ceuta still houses more than 400 minors, most of whom are staying in the reception centers and are being taken care of by the Child Protection Service of the autonomous city, according to Hora Sur.

To read: Ceuta Hires Interpreters to Facilitate Return of Moroccan Minors

Around fifty of these minors were repatriated to Morocco in mid-August on the basis of the 1997 agreement signed between Spain and Morocco on the prevention of illegal immigration of unaccompanied minors, their protection and their return. This procedure, deemed "illegal" by several human rights NGOs and the UN, has finally been suspended by the Spanish courts who decided that the minors must be heard individually and have legal assistance before being repatriated to their country of origin.

To read: Ceuta Leader Urges Repatriation of 700 Moroccan Minors After Mass Arrival

The Spanish government has expressed its willingness to support Ceuta in this process of repatriating minors. An operation that must be carried out within a shorter timeframe due to the deplorable conditions in which most of the minors wandering the streets of Ceuta live, "without any social, health or humanitarian assistance".