The tragedy of Melilla: Spain and Morocco one year under the shadow of the cover-up

The events left 37 dead and 76 missing, according to Amnesty International and other organizations.

Just one year after the tragedy in Melilla, in which between 23 and 37 immigrants trying to enter Spain from Morocco lost their lives, Amnesty International once again called for responsibility from the two countries, which it accuses of covering up for not investigate what happened on June 24.

During that day around 2,000 people, migrants and refugees mostly from sub-Saharan African countries, tried to cross the border by jumping over the fence that separates Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Melilla. In addition to the dead there are still 76 missing.

From the Alaouite kingdom, the territory where most of the tragedy took place, it was reported that 23 people would have died from being crushed, when they fell en masse from the top of the fence. Spain, for its part, assured that there were no deaths in its territory.

“A year later, the conclusion that we are facing a deliberate and concerted cover-up is more and more evident,” said Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Àgnes Callamard, who added that “if the lessons of Melilla — or the recent shipwreck off the Greek coast — are not learned, the arbitrary loss of life, violence and the impunity at the bordersand the suffering of those who seek protection will be aggravated.”

Thus, the organization maintains that “the Spanish and Moroccan authorities not only continue to deny any responsibility, but also frustrate attempts to find out the truth“. In this sense, he warned that the efforts to identify the bodies of the deceased and the report for their relatives are difficult.

According to the organization, the authorities have made no effort to repatriate the bodies and at least 22 of them are still in a morgue from Morocco. Only one body was recognized by a relative who moved from the United Kingdom, while the rest of the relatives -from Sudan- could not travel to Morocco because Rabat did not issue visas and due to the armed conflict in the country.

In addition, neither of the two countries has provided a complete list of names of the victims and causes of death, nor images from surveillance cameras.

The only investigation that was carried out in Spain was that of the General Prosecutor’s Office, which was archived in December 2022 by that instance, as it did not appreciate “indication of crime” by the Spanish security forces. In the Congress of Deputies, the majority opposed opening a parliamentary investigation.

No type of investigation has been opened by the Moroccan side for the alleged disproportionate use of force by its agents. What has continued are the legal proceedings against dozens of the migrants who survived.

A harshly criticized management

The management of this migratory crisis has been widely questioned by international organizations and independent researchers. The Ombudsman of Spain even affirmed that the European country had returned to Morocco those who managed to overcome the fence, without processing their cases, which implied a breach of international law. According to his calculations, the returnees would be 470 people.

For her part, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Dunja Mijatović, criticized the fact that there was no “no genuine and effective access to asylum at the border”.

The criticisms go beyond a specific case. The complaints to Spain include illegal practices at the border, such as collective returnsthe hot returns without legal assistance or the possibility of applying for asylum, or the excessive use of force.

In addition, Spain is accused of ‘outsource’ the control of their borders to Morocco in this particular case. This situation, consequently, allows Rabat to prevent sub-Saharan migrants from accessing Spanish border posts to request asylum.

At the end of last year, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance stated that the violence in Melilla “reveals the ‘status quo’ of the borders of the European Union, know, use of racialized exclusion and lethal violence to prevent the entry of people of African and Middle Eastern origin and other non-white populations.”

These discourses have been reinforced after the explosion of the Ukraine refugee crisisafter the start of the conflict. Ukrainians have been welcomed in the Iberian country with a display of resources to welcome and integrate them, which had not been previously enabled in the face of crises such as those experienced in Syria or in African countries.

In fact, the vast majority of people who tried to cross the border that fateful day came from Sudan, a country that has spent years immersed in different armed conflicts that have affected the civilian population. The Spanish Ministry of the Interior, for its part, has granted in the last five years 90% of the international protection statutes to Sudanese people who have managed to reach Spain and request asylum, something that the people who were immersed did not achieve. in the massacre a year ago, since those that managed to survive were returned immediately.

“It is difficult not to see the racist element in what happened in Melilla and the dehumanizing way in which black people are treated at the borders of Europe when they live, disappear or die”, concluded Agnès Callamard.

Last Saturday, Melilla hosted the I March for Justice 24J, as a sign of protest and also in memory of the victims, with a manifesto signed by more than 300 organizations denouncing that the massacre that occurred a year ago is the most serious violation of human rights in recent times on European soil.

The day before, on Friday, another concentration called for justice at the doors of the Congress of Deputies, in Madrid. They also clamored for political responsibilities and the reactivation of the investigation.