Comienza el regreso de centenares de menores que entraron ilegalmente en Ceuta tras el acuerdo entre Marruecos y España

The return to Morocco of hundreds of minors who entered illegally through the Ceuta border in mid-May and who were still in the autonomous city of Ceuta has begun, as part of the diplomatic crisis between Spain and the Alawi kingdom. 

The operation began this Friday morning with the participation of the Spanish National Police and the Ceuta Local Police at the Santa Amelia Sports Centre, where 234 of the approximately 800 minors who are expected to return soon were housed.

Thus, the agreement for the return of hundreds of minors who entered illegally on 17 and 18 May through the Ceuta border comes just in the middle of the tension between Morocco and Spain after the diplomatic confrontation that erupted following the entry of Brahim Ghali, leader of the Polisario Front, into Spanish territory to be treated for respiratory problems in a hospital in Logroño. It is estimated that more than 10,000 people entered illegally through the Ceuta border, and between 2,000 and 3,000 of them were minors. 

Cadena Ser and the daily El País reported on the progress of negotiations between Morocco and Spain. Both media referred to the efforts of the Ministry of the Interior with the Vice-Presidency of the Government of Ceuta to coordinate with the Moroccan authorities "the return mechanism" for unaccompanied minors.

Meanwhile, according to the EFE news agency, sources from the Government Delegation in Ceuta indicated that the operation had begun this morning in the aforementioned sports centre where 234 of the minors who were still in Spanish territory were housed. Although there was no official confirmation in principle from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, which did not deny it either. On the other hand, several organisations confirmed that several minors had indeed crossed the border this day to return to the North African nation. 

The departures of these minors have been taking place in the initial phase in groups of 15, with the exception of those considered "vulnerable". The main objective now is to "guarantee in each case the conditions for effective family reunification of the minor or their delivery to a guardianship institution", as stated in a communication from the Secretary of State for Security to which the EFE news agency had access. In this way, the children have begun to be transferred to a Moroccan reception centre while waiting to be reunited with their parents.

According to documents revealed by Cadena Ser and the daily El País, the Ministry of the Interior maintains that the Kingdom of Morocco is committed to looking after the interests of the minors and explains that the children will be taken into the Martil centre for minors, close to Tetuan. The Ministry of the Interior guarantees that Morocco will protect the rights of the minors until they are reunited with their parents as soon as possible and, in the event that this scenario is not possible, it will be L'Entraide Nationale (belonging to the Moroccan Ministry of Family, Solidarity, Equality and Social Development) who will take care of them.

The returns will be carried out in groups, day by day, "as the individual dossiers are processed", but no details have been given as to how and when these dossiers will be completed, as reported in the newspaper El País.

There are organisations that have opposed these group returns, such as various NGOs and the Ombudsman's Office, on the grounds that Spanish law is not being complied with. Save the Children has stated that any collective repatriation of children or adolescents is illegal, recalling that the regrouping of Moroccan minors must guarantee their protection and be individual and voluntary. The organisation stressed that in order for the return to be considered as the solution that best guarantees the rights of the child, it must be carried out after a thorough and individual analysis of each case. It also pointed out that it is essential that their return does not pose a risk to their physical or moral integrity and that individualised monitoring and a guarantee of reintegration can be guaranteed to ensure that all their rights are fulfilled, as the media outlet La Razón pointed out. 

It should be recalled that the return of unaccompanied foreign minors is included in a bilateral agreement with Morocco, but since its last revision in 2012, it had not been activated. 

This scenario indicates that there may now be more collaboration between Morocco and Spain; in fact, the government delegate in Ceuta assured that relations with Morocco are once again "very good". All this after the crisis unleashed by Brahim Ghali's entry into Spain to be hospitalised. Morocco criticised the situation, denouncing the lack of collaboration from a country considered a neighbour and ally like Spain. The Spanish Foreign Ministry, headed at the time by Arancha González Laya, argued humanitarian reasons for allowing Ghali's entry, but these explanations did not satisfy the Kingdom. From there came episodes that made the situation more tense, such as the aforementioned entry of thousands of migrants illegally through the Ceuta border or Spain's exclusion from Operation Crossing the Strait, which facilitates the return of Moroccans to their country during the summer season. 

When Brahim Ghali's presence in Spain became known, the Audiencia Nacional summoned him to testify telematically on 1 June for the alleged crimes of torture and terrorism that appear in the complaints filed against Ghali by the Sahrawi Association for Human Rights (ASADEDH) and the Sahrawi activist Fadel Breica. After the judicial declaration, no precautionary measures were applied to the Polisario leader and he left Spanish territory on 2 June for Algeria to be hospitalised in a centre in Algiers, where he was visited by the Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and the head of the army, Said Chengriha, thus demonstrating the good harmony between Algeria and the Polisario Front, in the face of a political rival in the Maghreb such as Morocco. 

One of these lawsuits was shelved and we are waiting to see what the National Court judge Santiago Pedraz decides on the other. Meanwhile, a court in Zaragoza is also investigating the actions of officials of the Foreign Ministry during González Laya's time, due to doubts about the procedure for Brahim Ghali's entry and exit from Spain without supposedly passing any controls, following a complaint filed by the lawyer for the private prosecution, Antonio Urdiales. 

Behind the Spanish-Moroccan crisis lies another underlying problem, that of Western Sahara. Morocco considers that Spain has not given sufficient support to its proposal for broad autonomy for the Sahrawi region under Moroccan sovereignty, within the framework of the United Nations. An initiative that received significant support from Donald Trump's past US government and Joe Biden's current US administration, and which received a major boost with the announcement of the opening of Consulates of relevant countries such as the US giant and the United Arab Emirates in important points such as Dakhla and Laayoune.

Opposing this position is that of the Polisario Front, which advocates a referendum on Sahrawi independence; an option that has little international support, including that of Algeria. 

Following the crisis between Morocco and Spain, José Manuel Albares succeeded Arancha González Laya at the helm of the Spanish foreign ministry. The former ambassador to Paris made it clear from the outset in his debut as minister that the objective was to strengthen relations with Morocco as an ally, partner and neighbour.