By Tito Drago
MADRID, Nov 19 1998 (IPS)

The stories of two groups of immigrants, an Algerian and three Ecuadorians, illustrate the mistreatment incomers from outside the European Union (EU) receive in Spain, although the two stories have very different endings.

KM, a 24-year-old Algerian who had worked illegally for two years during which he was treated like a slave and lost a court case against his employer, finally obtained permission to live and work in Spain.

On the other hand, the wife and daughter of Ecuadorian Luis Estrada were sent back to Ecuador on Nov. 15, despite fulfilling the legal requirements for a tourist visa to Spain.

To be able to enter the country, visitors from outside the EU are required to prove that they can return home and have enough money to cover their stay in Spain. Estrada’s wife and 15-year-old daughter arrived at the airport here with their passports duly stamped, their return tickets and 1,250 dollars in cash as spending money.

On their arrival, they declared that they had come to see their husband and father, who was working in the vineyards of the southern province of Andalucia but was still trying to obtain permission from the authorities to live and work in Spain.

However, the two women were sent back to Ecuador and they were not given a chance to appeal against the measure, which they had a right to do.

First the police, and then the government justified the expulsion, stating the women had no hotel reservation and that Estrada’s wife was very nervous. They claimed the women were immediately repatriated because Estrada had no work permit and his wife had said she, too, was hoping to work in Spain.

KM’s experience ended differently, thanks to the intervention of Spain’s ‘Asociacion pro Derechos Humanos’ (APDH – Human Rights Association).

The young Algerian came to Spain in March 1995 and appealed for asylum, which was denied seven months later. In the meantime, he was taken care of by the Catholic Migration Commission, and worked as a construction worker for a businessman, Rafael Llorente.

Llorente provided him with an offer of employment, a prerequisite for beginning the residency process. Taking advantage of KM’s ignorance of the local situation, the businessman made him sign a contract in which he agreed to work as a servant “while his residency application was being processed”.

The contract, used as one of the main exhibits in a court case, stated that the two parties “in accordance with Roman Law,” established a contract of slavery.

The document stated that the employer could use KM “as though he were his property, for flagellation or forced labour, for sodomy or as a cook, having the life or death of the slave under his jurisdiction.”

And Llorente and his partner complied with the contract, called KM their “slave,” while their victim put up with the situation for fear of being expelled before getting legal residence should he react otherwise.

When made aware of the details of his case, the APDH brought it before the Guadalajara courts and, to the general surprise, Judge Isabel Serrano Frias cleared the accused on Jul. 15 this year.

In the meantime, KM, supported by the APDH, has obtained permission to live and work in Spain. He now refuses to receive the press, or even continue with the court case, preferring to “start his life over.”

However, State Prosecutor Jesus Cardenal has called for a retrial.

The official stance on the immigration issue, declared by the Interior Ministry, is to go after the networks that smuggle in immigrants, rigorously apply immigration regulations and encourage the social integration of foreigners living in Spain.

Spain is not considered one of the main host countries in the EU, accounting for fewer than five percent of the estimated 18.1 million immigrants in the 15 EU states in 1995 – 80 percent of them from outside the bloc.

Germany heads the list with seven million, followed by France with 3.5 milllion and the United Kingdom with 2.2 million.

Human rights organisations point out that immigrants make up only 1.2 percent of Spain’s population, as against more than seven percent in other European nations.

Other non-government groups stress Spain should not forget its historical, cultural and family links with Latin America and the Arab nations, and should therefore treat immigrants better.

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