After the death of migrants in Melilla: “Migration policy takes a heavy toll”

On June 24, many migrants died trying to cross the border fence of the Spanish exclave of Melilla. Madrid blames human traffickers. Activists speak of a new criminalization of migrants.

A Moroccan court in Nador, in northern Morocco, recently sentenced 33 migrants to eleven months in prison for entering the country illegally. The background: A month ago, on June 24, more than 1,000 people tried to overcome the fortifications of the Spanish exclave of Melilla. The violence that day was enormous.

The allegations of the migrants involved against the authorities are serious – including those of Omar, he comes from Sudan. “We went to Nador and they beat us up brutally,” he recalls. “They killed our friends and family. The Moroccan government said there were 23 dead, but we know there are more than 70. We call on human rights organizations to intervene to treat the wounded and at the same time we ask them to support us evacuate immediately to safe countries because we don’t feel safe here.”

A sea of ​​people lying on the ground

Eyewitnesses describe the incident as a battle between migrants and security officials. Videos show hundreds of young men crowded in front of a fence, who are apparently being shot at with tear gas, in any case clouds of smoke are rising. In another film snippet you see a sea of ​​people lying on the ground, as if dead, injured with torn and bloody clothes. Later, there was talk of “unprecedented clashes” between migrants and the Moroccan police.

There are massive allegations against them: they are said to have brutally hit the African migrants with sticks. Moroccan authorities, in turn, report excessive violence by migrants, with well over 100 Moroccan officials injured. Omar Najji from the Moroccan human rights organization AMDH blames both the Moroccan and Spanish authorities for the escalation at the border fence. “What happened on Friday 24 June 2022 is a first for Nador and all of Morocco. A heavy toll has been paid, 27 dead migrants and so many seriously injured, and this clearly shows the true content of Moroccan and Spanish migration policies.”

Ongoing investigation into the victims

Morocco’s authorities officially speak of 23 dead migrants. This is the deadliest tally ever recorded in the many attempts to cross the border fences. Madrid and Rabat, in turn, blame “criminal human trafficking networks” for the tragedy.

Investigations into the fatalities are still ongoing. According to the Moroccan authorities, some migrants are said to have succumbed to their injuries after trying to climb over the meter-high barbed wire border fence. According to the Ministry of the Interior, people also died in the crowd or by falling in front of the fence.

Amina Bouayach, President of the National Council for Human Rights, also speaks of 23 dead. “We confirm in the preliminary conclusions of this commission that 23 migrants died and no bodies were buried. All victims were autopsied to determine the cause of death. Secondly, all the deceased were subjected to a DNA test,” she says.

The fatalities are said to be mainly people from the countries south of the Sahara, from Sudan and South Sudan. The videos and pictures circulating on social networks have not only caused discussion in Morocco. The head of the African Union Commission has condemned the clashes as “violent and degrading treatment of African migrants”.

Morocco – transit country towards Europe

In Morocco, people are now protesting on the streets against the government’s course. Mamadou Diallo, coordinator of a collective for migrants from sub-Saharan countries in Morocco, appealed that his country should no longer play the violent gendarme for Europe’s border policy. “We call on Morocco to oppose moving Europe’s borders to Morocco after what just happened. We all know Morocco’s goodwill in hosting migrants, but we don’t really know now how this migration will affect Morocco becomes.”

With the Spanish exclaves of Melilla and Ceuta, Morocco has Africa’s only land border with Europe. For years, the kingdom has been considered a transit country towards Europe. The border fences repeatedly make headlines – they are seen as clinical thermometers in Morocco’s diplomatic relations with Europe. If there was a crunch, it was usually shown by the fact that more migrants made it through the very well-secured border installations.

A touch more basic rights than in Africa

Migration researcher Mehdi Alioua says that the drama at the border fences cannot be resolved with a policy of isolation. “The dramas at the European borders, especially on the African migration routes leading to Europe, continue to increase,” said Alioua. “On the one hand, Morocco doesn’t provide enough hours of care for asylum seekers and doesn’t allow them to apply for asylum. But at the same time, Spain does that if the migrants were going to cross the border. And so we have desperate people trying to do exactly that because they on the other hand, still partially benefit from their fundamental rights, at least a little more than in Africa.”

Europe and Morocco should do more to address the humanitarian crisis. As long as that is not the case, the migration expert expects increasing violence at the border fences.