The Diplomat
The Attorney General’s Office yesterday ordered an investigation into the deaths of at least 23 people in Moroccan territory during the storming of the Melilla fence, after the UN called on Spain and Morocco to investigate the circumstances and ensure “accountability”. For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, assured that both Morocco and Spain want to “clarify what happened”.
The Attorney General of the State, Dolores Delgado, signed yesterday a decree by which the investigation of the facts is entrusted to the Coordinating Prosecutor for Foreigners, Beatriz Sanchez, taking into account “the importance and seriousness of the events that took place, which could affect human rights and the fundamental rights of individuals, as well as the uniqueness and complexity of the investigation”.
At least 23 people died last Friday (37 according to NGOs) during a massive assault on the Melilla fence. The Government has hardly pronounced itself to date on this tragedy and has even reiterated its support for the actions of the Moroccan Gendarmerie, an attitude that has been harshly criticized by the PP (which has demanded the appearance of President Pedro Sanchez in Congress) and even by its minority partner in the coalition government, Unidas Podemos, which has presented a motion in the Lower House to open, immediately, an independent investigation into the facts and to derive “the corresponding political and criminal responsibilities”. However, Unidas Podemos is going to oppose the petition presented by the opposition for Pedro Sánchez and the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to appear in Congress because it is confident that both will do so at “their own request”.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, yesterday expressed her dismay “at the deaths of at least 23 African migrants and the injuries of at least 76 others while attempting to cross from Morocco to Spain on June 24” and called on the Governments of Spain and Morocco to “ensure an effective and independent investigation” to “establish the circumstances of the deaths and injuries and possible responsibilities and ensure accountability as appropriate.”
“This is the highest number of deaths recorded in a single incident in many years of migrants attempting to cross from Morocco to Europe through the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta. Apparently 140 Moroccan border guards were also injured,” she continued. “We have received reports of migrants being beaten with truncheons, kicked, pushed and attacked with stones by Moroccan officials as they attempted to scale the six to ten meter high barbed wire fence separating Morocco from Melilla,” she added. “We call on Morocco and Spain to ensure respect for the human rights of migrants at their common border and, in particular, that their border agents refrain from excessive use of force against migrants,” she concluded.
In the same vein, the UN Committee for the Protection of Migrant Workers and their Families called on Spain and Morocco to “immediately” open a “thorough, independent and transparent” investigation to “determine whether the victims died when they fell from the fence, in a stampede or as a result of actions committed by border guards”. He also urged both countries to “bring those responsible to justice” and made “an appeal to all States to respect the human rights of migrants, including asylum seekers.”
Albares, Sánchez and Robles
For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, declared yesterday that this event “demonstrates the complexity of the phenomenon of migration, in which so many people put their lives at risk”, and assured, in declarations to the program Espejo Público, of Antena 3, that both Morocco and Spain want to “clarify what happened”, as demonstrated by the investigations opened by the Public Prosecutors of the two countries and by the Spanish Ombudsman.
While awaiting the results, he warned, it is necessary to avoid attributing “responsibilities without knowing what has happened”, after the Moroccan authorities have denounced the “deliberate laxity” of Algeria at its borders. The minister also assured, in the same line as the rest of the Government, that “without the collaboration of the Moroccan security forces and the excellent work of the Spanish security forces, it would be impossible to control the phenomenon of illegal immigration”, because “it is clear that an avalanche of 2,000 people unexpectedly is something very difficult to manage” and “no country in the world, however powerful it may be, can face this phenomenon alone”.
For his part, the President of the Government yesterday returned to regret the death of at least 23 people in the massive assault on the fence of Melilla, with “a very special memory to the families of the deceased”. “Our respect and our commitment to human rights is total, it is deep, but I think we have to point out where the responsibility lies, which is in the trafficking of human beings that international mafias articulate and that damage the territorial integrity of Spain and of a country that is suffering from this irregular immigration such as Morocco,” he told The Associated Press.
Likewise, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, expressed her “solidarity” with the families of the victims and assured, in declarations to Tele Cinco, that “what is happening is very serious”. “Between all of us we must prevent this from happening again. We cannot in any case be insensitive,” she added.
