Council of Europe warns Spain on migrants in Africa enclaves

Spain must make sure that would-be refugees arriving in two Spanish enclaves in north Africa are allowed to seek asylum, the Council of Europe said on Thursday.

Even those "jumping the border fences" between Morocco and the Spanish towns of Ceuta and Melilla must not be automatically expelled, Council of Europe migration envoy Tomas Bocek warned.

The enclaves on the Mediterranean coast are popular destinations for migrants who have reached Morocco and hope to make it into the European Union, despite guarded fences 6 metres high.[embed:render:embedded:node:31167]In a report published on Thursday, Bocek praised facilities for refugees and asylum seekers in mainland Spain, but warned that those in Melilla and Ceuta were overcrowded. Dozens of unaccompanied children in Melilla and Ceuta have fallen out of the protection system, living in the streets and trying to get on board of ferries heading to mainland Europe, according to the report.

Spain has so far this year received more than 33,000 migrants, according to the International Organisation for Migration. That figure puts it ahead of Italy and Greece for the first time in recent years, as deals struck by European governments have massively cut down on migrant boat journeys from Libya and Turkey.

Later this month the European Court of Human Rights is due to hear an appeal by the Spanish government against a ruling that it breached the rights of a Malian and an Ivorian national who were handed over to Moroccan authorities immediately after scaling the fence around Melilla.    (dpa)