Over 100 migrants in Ceuta begin hunger strike on Trampolín beach

The UNICEF spokesperson, Ildefonso González, stated that the issue of minors in Ceuta should not be treated as a political debate, but rather as a guarantee of rights and protection for all children, regardless of their origin.

UNICEF Spain highlighted that Ceuta, a small Spanish territory in North Africa, received 72,000 people last week, including hundreds of unaccompanied minors. The agency stressed that the city lacks the capacity to handle the situation of these children and adolescents.

González classified the situation as a contingent migration crisis, demanding an urgent and rapid response to provide the best possible reception for the minors. The spokesperson called for the more than a thousand identified unaccompanied children in Ceuta to be transferred to reception facilities in other parts of Spain.

He reported that many children and adolescents remain on the streets, unregistered with authorities, hidden in various places in the city, and that there are injured minors. The non-governmental organization Save The Children also raised concerns about the risk of girls in Ceuta being victims of sexual assault, trafficking, and exploitation, especially those outside reception centers.

In a statement, Save The Children emphasized that the system for assisting minors in Ceuta is under 'extraordinary pressure' and without means to manage the situation in the city. Furthermore, the NGO expressed concern that some of the minors who arrived last week have not yet been located and may remain on the streets without access to a safe place.

On Monday, Save The Children had already warned of the 'serious risk' of many minors remaining outside the protection system in Ceuta. Authorities have confirmed the identification of 528 unaccompanied minors who illegally entered the city last week, although the delegate of the Spanish Government in the territory admitted that there are more children on the streets.

Miguel Ángel Pérez reported that, so far, there is no 'official number' of minors entering in this wave of 72,000 people. Currently, Ceuta's reception centers house 1,100 minors, and authorities announced the preparation of two industrial warehouses and two schools to urgently accommodate the hundreds already identified and those found on the streets.

Before the large influx on Thursday, the autonomous city's authorities had already warned that there were about 800 unaccompanied foreign minors in reception centers, a situation already considered to be at breaking point. The president of the autonomous city government, Juan Jesús Vivas, of the Popular Party (PP, right-wing), declared on Wednesday that the current assistance exceeds the official capacity of Ceuta's minor centers by 2600% and requested 'help, aid, and solidarity' from other regional executives in Spain.

Spanish legislation stipulates that regional governments are responsible for the guardianship of foreign minors who arrive in their territories without adult accompaniment. In cases of overcrowding, these children and adolescents must be distributed to other regions. However, regional governments such as those of Extremadura or Aragon, led by the PP in coalition with Vox (far-right), have already communicated that they will not host minors from Ceuta, despite the Spanish executive reminding that there are legal resources to force this accommodation.

Additionally, the Spanish Government announced on Tuesday the allocation of an extraordinary fund of 25 million euros for Ceuta, specifically intended for assistance to unaccompanied minors present in the city.

A commission composed of forensic doctors and specialists from the Civil Guard has increased the number of migrants who died while trying to reach Ceuta to 77. Most of these deaths occurred due to drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, representing an increase of two cases compared to the previous balance released by the Spanish government's representation in Ceuta.

Ceuta authorities reported rescuing a total of 79 bodies from the sea, although two of them were recovered before the large influx of migrants into the enclave, according to the official statement from Spanish authorities.

The forensic doctors conducted 77 autopsies and managed to identify two people already registered in Spain through their fingerprints. The statement clarified that, to identify the others, fingerprint data will need to be sent to Morocco for possible recognition.

Meanwhile, the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior announced on Sunday evening that 11 individuals lost their lives on the Moroccan side of the border with Spain. This number should be added to the victims counted by Spanish authorities.

According to the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH), the total number of victims could be close to 130, in addition to dozens of missing people. The Observatory of Northern Human Rights (ONDH), based in the Fnideq region, estimates that the number of dead could exceed 100, excluding the missing.

Ceuta, a small territory with 80,000 inhabitants located in the extreme north of Morocco and bordered by the Strait of Gibraltar, constitutes one of the two land borders between Africa and Europe, alongside the other Spanish enclave, Melilla.

Spanish authorities indicated that 70,000 of the 72,000 migrants who managed to enter Ceuta returned to Morocco, but there are still individuals of various African nationalities in the Spanish city who refuse to return, including minors.

On the same day, the autonomous executives of Castile and León, Extremadura, and Aragon—all members of a coalition formed by the PP and Vox—announced their opposition to the distribution of unaccompanied migrant minors arriving in Ceuta.

The Government of Castile and León was the first to express this position. Sources from the community's Vice Presidency, led by Carlos Pollán (Vox), demonstrated 'frontal opposition' to the socialist government of Pedro Sánchez's migration policy, reinforcing that such a stance is provided for in the government pact signed between the PP and the Santiago Abascal formation, as reported to the EFE agency.

Sources consulted by EFE revealed that the PP-Vox agreement for the Government in Extremadura stipulates that this region will actively work to repatriate unaccompanied minors to their countries of origin, also ensuring that 'no new center for illegal immigrant reception will be created during the legislature nor will there be an expansion of existing vacancies.'

In line with this, the Government of Aragon declared that it will use 'all legal, judicial, and political instruments' available to oppose any determination it considers a violation of its competencies or that threatens the capacity of its public services.

The other autonomous executive of the PP-Vox coalition, that of Andalusia, chose not to take a position on the issue, following the example of other PP governments in different communities.

Miguel Tellado, secretary-general of the PP, when asked whether the PP-governed autonomous communities would host the minors who arrived in Ceuta, stated that the country is not facing a migration crisis, but rather 'a national security crisis.' He added that 'the government of Sánchez generated the problem and it is he who must solve it. Let those who entered return out.'