UNICEF Urges Spain to Protect Hundreds of Unaccompanied Moroccan Migrant Children in Ceuta

According to a report made public on Wednesday by the UN agency, migrant children continue to be the black spot left by the migration crisis that shook Morocco and Spain. There would still be nearly 500 without any protection, wandering and exposed to dangers in the enclave.

In detail, the UN Children’s Fund cited the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Ceuta, indicating that 820 minors are in the care centers. 80 are girls and about 600 children under 16 years old. UNICEF estimates that 300 to 500 others live on the street, knowing that before the border crisis, the city had about 240 unaccompanied children in the dedicated protection centers.

To this end, the document recommends the transfer of these minors under 18 to the peninsula, in order to guarantee all the requirements of their sustainable and respectful care of the legal provisions in this matter.

Dwelling on the lack of planning and resources dedicated to the protection of children, UNICEF also pointed to the inadequacy of the training dedicated to the teams in charge of the many protection centers, complemented by the lack of a satisfactory number of professionals fluent in Arabic and Darija to facilitate interactions with Moroccan children.

Faced with this situation, a team from Save the Children in Spain and UNICEF, with the support of the authorities of the enclave, has strengthened programs aimed at transferring unaccompanied minors to another European Union country, or returning them to Morocco. Provided that this expulsion respects the guarantees provided for by Spanish legislation and international standards on adequate care.