Brussels, 30/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - Human Rights Watch (HRW) has requested Spain to put a stop to deporting unaccompanied children who have entered the country illegally. It has observed an increase in these practices recently. The organisation says that these practices could put the children in danger and at risk of ill treatment and detention. In its appeal, transmitted by Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN), HRW is calling on the government of Mr Zapatero to “interrupt these repatriations until implementation of a process guaranteeing the children's welfare”. In the immediate future, the government must give them the same access to an independent lawyer.
In a report, “Return at any price: Spain encourages the repatriation of non-accompanied minors in the absence of guarantees”, HRW indicates that the Andalusian authorities had declared that they had sent back 1,000 non-accompanied minors to Morocco. HRW details the procedure adopted as going against the principles of justice and “Spanish courts have blocked more than twenty repatriations contravening the laws of the country”. HRW affirms that the government had tried to obstruct the work of volunteer lawyers who had acted on behalf of a small number of children. (F.B./trans/rh)