The Diplomat
The head of the Contentious-Administrative Court number 1 of Ceuta decided yesterday to maintain the precautionary suspension of the repatriation of nine unaccompanied migrant minors to Morocco, which had been requested by the Association for the Coordination of Neighbourhoods for the Monitoring of Minors and Youths.
In the magistrate’s opinion, “there is sufficient data” to understand that the way used by the Ministry of the Interior to proceed with the return of these minors, who entered Ceuta in the avalanche of May, could have produced a “violation of the right to effective judicial protection” of the children.
The judge’s ratification of the measure she adopted a few days ago, which led to the suspension of the returns not only of these nine minors, but also of others who were being repatriated, means, in fact, the paralysation of the process undertaken and which was going to affect some 700 children who have been in Ceuta since the massive entry allowed by Morocco in response to the reception by Spain in a hospital of the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali.
In the order, to which Europa Press had access, the judge indicates that, after studying the documentation provided by the Government Delegation in Ceuta and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the suspension should be maintained. “If this measure were to be lifted, the repatriation of the children would be permitted; therefore, if the ruling were to uphold the plaintiff’s claim, it would be absolutely ineffective, as an administrative decision that violates a fundamental right has been executed, without achieving the protection sought, as the minor is in Morocco,” she reasons in her ruling.
She also states that the Agreement signed by Spain and Morocco on 6 March 2007, on which the State Attorney’s Office based its defence of the procedure chosen for the expulsions, “is not an international treaty”, but “a declaration of intentions” that “does not constitute a source of international obligations, nor is it governed by international law”.
Moreover, the magistrate recalls that in its own articles, Spain is obliged to “abide by our legal system and the norms of international law, specifically the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in order to proceed with the repatriation of minors”.
In her opinion, “it is only possible to carry out this repatriation if it is carried out with absolute respect for our legal system”, something that has not been done either with the Law on Foreigners or with the Law on the Legal Protection of Minors.
There is no record,” she warns, “that any of the mandatory procedures have been complied with: no information has been provided on the minors affected that would make it possible to know the data that have determined their repatriation; there is no record that the start of the repatriation process has been communicated to the minors; nor to the Autonomous City, despite the fact that it has assumed custody of the minors; nor to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, without it being understood that the mere submission to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the list of minors to be repatriated that same day complies with the required formalities; nor has a reasoned resolution been provided that can be appealed against”.
The order remarks that “one of the essential principles of our legal system is that laws must be complied with in their own terms”. “This implies that everyone, including the administrations, has the obligation to comply with the rules in force, without making exceptions not expressly contemplated in the regulatory text itself”, it underlines.
