The European Parliament recently adopted a resolution in which it rejected "Morocco's use of border control and migration, and unaccompanied minors in particular, as political pressure against a member state of the EU [namely Spain]."
20-year-old Ayoub snuck into Melilla as a minor and has been living in the small Spanish enclave for three years. Originally from a small village near Fez, he says he never wants to go back there "because life in Morocco offers me nothing." He told InfoMigrants he is "stuck" living on the streets and wants "more than anything" to get to the mainland to start a new life.
According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), COVID-19 hit migrants the worst in Europe and this is the category that is now also the least vaccinated. Migrants especially in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden had higher rates of infection than the rest of the population, while in Italy and Spain they show a higher likelihood of needing to be hospitalized.
Morocco is to facilitate the re-entry of stranded unaccompanied minors who recently entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, after thousands crossed the border in May.
The general prosecutor's office in Spain has opened an inquiry into whether any migrants under age 18 were pushed back among those that were forced to leave the Ceuta enclave after the arrival of thousands of people in only a few days from Morocco.
A new guide in several languages aims to help families and loved ones who are searching for missing migrants. The guide also highlights the rights of families and the responsibilities of countries for those who are missing.
Every evening, dozens of undocumented Moroccans attempt to enter the port of Melilla to board ferries bound for Malaga, Almeria or Motril, in southern Spain. For these young people, the sea is the only way out of the Spanish enclave. They risk being injured by barbed wire, being beaten by the police, or even drowning.
The approaching harvest season brings a flow of migrants to Spain. The government fears that another coronavirus outbreak will follow if the workers are not vaccinated immediately.
Hundreds of young Moroccans live in the Spanish enclave of Melilla without documents. Sleeping in abandoned buildings or on cliffs in makeshift shelters, they say they have been abandoned by Spain.
Around 200 unaccompanied Moroccan children are to be transferred from the Spanish enclave Ceuta in North Africa to mainland Spain.
A new law passed by the Spanish parliament prohibits stripping migrants under age 18 to ascertain their age, a method that the UN has said violates the migrants' dignity. The law will come into force in June.
While most of the thousands of migrants who entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta were deported, local Spanish officials struggle to care for the minors it cannot send back across the border to Morocco.