The European Parliament adopted on Thursday 10 June, by 397 votes to 85 with 196 abstentions, a resolution denouncing Morocco’s violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to exert pressure on Spain.
Nearly 10,000 people had arrived in Ceuta on 17 May, including children who were “wrongly led to believe that star footballers were playing in a match with free entrance in the city of Ceuta, and that they were on a school excursion”, Parliament said. The crisis was triggered after the Polisario Front leader, Brahim Ghali, was admitted to a Spanish hospital.
Parliament rejects Morocco’s use of border and migration control and unaccompanied minors “as political pressure against” Spain.
It further called on Spain and Morocco to work closely together to enable the repatriation of the children to their families.
The European Parliament welcomes “the step taken by the Moroccan authorities on 1 June 2021 to facilitate the re-entry of all identified unaccompanied children who are on European Union territory irregularly”. It calls on Spain and Morocco “to work closely to allow for the repatriation of children to their families, which must be guided by the best interests of the child and carried out in compliance with national and international law”. Link to the text: https://bit.ly/2TgulQb (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)