Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 20th September 2021

Case name: 2021_09_20-WM720

Situation: 125 travelers walk to the Spanish exclave Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, climb the fence and get pushed back in the evening.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea/ Spanish exclave

Summary of the case: In the morning of the 20th September 2021, the Alarm Phone received a call from a group of approximately 125 travelers. They had walked and climbed the fence to the Spanish exclave Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera. There were about 60 women, 60 men and 7 children, and they had walked several days from the forests of Nador. They told us that they asked for asylum in Spain. Our shift team stayed in contact with them during the day, informed the authorities, the UNHCR and other organizations, and the Alarm Phone tried to put pressure on the European authorities, also by doing media work, so the travelers would not be pushed back to Morocco. Our shift team collected a list of the names of the travelers, received videos and voice messages from them, in which they reported about their situation. Even though it was very clear the the people were on Spanish territory and demanded asylum, they were pushed back to a Moroccan police station in the evening, after having to wait in the hot sun without enough water, food and treatment for their injuries, with armed soldiers surrounding them and a helicopter circling above them.

The following report was written by Alarm phone and the Tweets document the case:

Tweets:

20.09.2021

10h09 CEST: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1439864179402366978

12h56 CEST: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1439906381818171396

14h44 CEST: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1439933372382523392

Statement:

Melilla, 20 September 2021

COMMUNIQUÉ ON THE SITUATION OF ASYLUM SEEKERS IN VÉLEZ DE LA GOMERA

To the Government Delegation in Melilla and the Ministry of the Interior.

During the early hours of Monday 20 September, 125 people have arrived at the Rock of Vélez de la Gomera, as reported by the Alarm Phone collective, which is in contact with them.

They are 60 men and 60 women, including 7 children of different nationalities, including Mali, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal and Democratic Republic of Congo.

They have arrived in Spanish territory, crossing the fence surrounding the Rock and are now in the open, with several injured people, some with health problems, and pregnant women.

All of them have expressed their willingness to apply for asylum in Spain, with their full names on a list expressly mentioning their wish to apply for international protection. This list, together with photos and videos of the people expressing their willingness to apply for asylum and asking for help, have been handed over to the Guardia Civil by Alarm Phone.

The military at the Spanish military base on the rock have given them water, asked them to group together and collected the list of names of the group seeking asylum.

They are currently surrounded by Moroccan military and fear expulsion to Morocco.

The undersigned organisations call on the government to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as with current legislation on international protection and human rights, and to move these people to a safe place where they can be cared for and where they can start their application procedure for international protection with due guarantees.

To do otherwise would be a serious violation of human rights and a failure to comply with the guarantees established in current legislation.

The silence of the institutions leads us to fear that the Spanish Government will authorise the hot return of refugees who are in a situation of special vulnerability, without access to due process, in breach of the principle of non-refoulement established in the Geneva Convention as an essential guarantee of the right to asylum, as reiterated by the Ombudsman in the Reminder of legal duty addressed to the Ministry of the Interior.

We insist that, since these persons are in Spanish territory and have expressed their will to request international protection, the Spanish State has the legal obligation to initiate an individualised procedure, being illegal to return without procedure persons in need of international protection who have come into contact with Spanish authorities.