Spain Defends Controversial Plan to Deport Unaccompanied Moroccan Minors Despite Court Suspension

"I respect the court decisions and hope that the 2007 agreement signed between Rabat and Madrid is based on optimal coordination in which there is no risk for the minors," the Spanish Interior Minister told Europa Press. Fernando Marlaska still holds to the assisted return of unaccompanied minors under the 2007 agreement signed with Morocco. According to him, these Moroccan minors want to return to their families and their social and cultural environment, where there is no risk.

"This 2007 agreement is not above international conventions since it takes into account the fact that the primary right is to return to one’s social and cultural environment, and Morocco has given ’guarantees’ that it will respect the rights of minors," the official stressed.

On Monday, a Spanish court suspended the repatriation to Morocco of a group of minors who arrived in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta during the migratory wave recorded in May. On the orders of the Spanish Minister of the Interior, 15 unaccompanied minors had been repatriated to the kingdom.