On the 10 October, a delegation of the GUE-NGL visited the town of Melilla, a Spanish enclave surrounded by Morocco, following the alarming news on sub-Saharan migrants' killings and deportations at the border and in the Moroccan desert.

The delegation was led by Willy Meyer (IU, ES) and composed of Giusto Catania (PRC, IT, LIBE coordinator), Luisa Morgantini (PRC, IT, President of DEVE Committee), Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann (PDS, DE, EP Vice-President), Tobias Pflüger (PDS, DE) and Miguel Portas (BE, PT), accompanied by Susana Lopez (IU, responsible for immigration) and Chiara Tamburini (GUE/NGL staff).
The visit had as its main aims the verification in loco of the situation at the border, the evaluation of the reception conditions in the centre for migrants and an exchange of views with local authorities and NGOs.

At 12.00, in the seat of the local Government, the delegation met the Head of the Technical Office of the Delegation of the Government, the Head of the "Guardia Civil" and the Director of the Reception Centre for Migrants.

MEPs raised their concern on the violations of human rights of migrants and asked questions concerning the number of expelled people and of asylum seekers; in particular, MEPs asked about the number of migrants who, having passed only the first of the two barbed wire fences (thus being in the so-called “no man’s land”), had been returned to Morocco without having the possibility to ask for asylum, although many of them come from countries in a state of war. No precise answer was given. It was only stated that, “once the migrants reach Spain’s land” (thus after passing the second fence), they do receive assistance.

At 12.30, the delegation met with the President of the Autonomous Assembly, Mr. Imbroda. Mr Imbroda affirmed his belief that assaults had become more frequent since the last regularisations in Spain and stressed that Melilla’s problem should be considered a European problem, because this is not only a Spanish border but a European border with Morocco. MEPs called for a change in European migration policy, opening more legal ways of migration and addressing the roots of this phenomenon.

At 13.00 a press conference took place in the offices of the Government Delegation, attended by several journalists from different countries.
While protesting at the treatment received by migrants, Willy Meyer in particular affirmed that these events showed the failure of European immigration policy, which makes Europe a fortress and does not deal with the roots of migration such as poverty and war. He claimed Mr Zapatero to be co-responsible – together with Moroccan authorities – of the return of thousands of migrants to countries where their lives may be in danger, many of them having been abandoned in the desert. Giusto Catania stated that the representatives of the Spanish government were not able to give us precise numbers about the expulsions from a territory under the control of the Guardia Civil (thus under Spanish jurisdiction) and agreed with Meyer that the Spanish government is co-responsible for what is going on. He added that Europe should welcome, instead of rejecting, and that a Europe built through walls has no future. Luisa Morgantini underlined the tragic situation of migrants, called for a totally different attitude from Morocco and a new EU policy on reception, on work and on development with their countries of origins. Tobias Pflüger said that what is happening now represents the failure of both EU asylum and migration policies: it should not be possible to use armies against refugees and to shoot people in order to defend a border. He stated that the general impression is one of a distribution of work between Spanish and Moroccan authorities, leaving to Morocco the “dirty job”. He added his feeling of shame as a German for seeing German Minister Schily’s plan to create migrant detention camps outside the Union put into practice step by step and underlined the duty of MEPs of scrutinise those sites.

At 13.30 the visit of the reception centre for migrants took place. MEPs saw with some surprise a well-functioning centre, where migrants were free to come and go at will, were given food, lodging, medical care and education (schools for children and language classes for adults), in a clean and good looking environment with a lot of trees. The centre is managed by the minister for social affairs with the help of the Red Cross and of local NGOs working with migrants and asylum seekers.
On the day of the visit the centre hosted around 1.500 migrants, while its normal capacity is 400 people max. Nevertheless it did not look extremely overcrowded and people without a real “roof” could live in Red Cross tents for around 20 people each.
Giusto Catania and Luisa Morgantini (who, together with another two MEPs of the delegation, had visited also the Lampedusa centre during the GUE-NGL visit at the end of June) underlined the huge difference between those two centres, in all respects.

At 14.00 the delegation visited by bus the border line with Morocco: two fences 3 to 6 meters high with barbed wire on top, separated by a corridor of around 5 meters patrolled by the Spanish Guardia Civil and in some points also occupied by other barbed wire rolls and vertical iron poles. The corridor is one of the most controversial legal issues, since Spanish authorities affirm it to be “no man’s land”.
The delegation was shocked by the cruelty of theses fences, still visibly showing pieces of the clothes of migrants who tried to get over it.
Over the fences, on the Spanish side, a huge pile of hand-made wooden ladders, used by migrants to try to come over the border, was lying.

After a short lunch with journalists, at 16.00 the delegation met several NGOs active in Melilla for migrants and children rights, which brought to the attention of the MEPs the documents formally accusing the General office of the public prosecutor of the State.
Their allegations on the behaviour of the Guardia Civil were terrifying, including violent acts such as beating migrants before delivering them to Moroccan authorities over the border or in some cases even killing them (we were told of at least 6 killings). Allegations included also corruption of border guards in order to send migrants back to Morocco from the corridor between the two fences through “illegal doors” opened temporarily in the fence.
NGOs also explained that in Melilla and Ceuta there are only reception centres while detention centres are in the mainland. In the reception centres people can ask for asylum while in the detention centres there are only illegal migrants who are supposed to one day be sent back to their own country of origin. NGOs also told MEPs an interesting fact: the percentage of asylum seekers in Ceuta is much higher that in Melilla because in Ceuta there are more NGOs informing migrants of their right to ask for asylum.
Given the length of the asylum procedure, some migrants can stay in the centres for months, or even years. Since the government of Spain grants very few asylum visas (less than 3 % of the applications in 2004), it causes many potential applicants not even to apply.
In other cases, people would be expelled but their countries of origin have signed no readmission agreement: migrants cannot live in Spain, but cannot be expelled either, an absurd legal paradox which keeps people in the centres up to years.

At 18.20 the delegation flew to Madrid where at 20.30 they had a working dinner with MSF and Amnesty International representatives in Madrid. Both sides exchanged views and data on the situation at the border with Morocco and on the initiatives to be taken at the EU level.