RIGHTS-SPAIN: Pulling Up the Drawbridge on Fortress Europe

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Alicia Fraerman

MADRID, Oct 8 1998 (IPS) - The latest move by Spanish authorities waging an ongoing campaign to stem immigration from the Maghreb states will involve rounding up street children in Barcelona into internation centres.

These homeless and often poorly educated children frequently arrive alone on Spanish shores slipping through border controls sailing in on makeshift rafts, or hiding in merchant ships and trucks.

Barcelona, the Catalan capital, on the Mediterranean coast has registers of more than 200 lone children, mostly from the Maghreb – Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania – living rough in the city.

These children, aged between 10 and 17 years old, survive by living in bands in impromtu shelters under the bridges, in open areas or empty lots.

The first concern central government and the moderate Catalan nationalists was to propose a modification of the Foreigners Law, in order to finger-print the children and identify them.

They then ordered an emergency centre be established to house them, making it “difficult for them to leave,” added Justice minister Nuria de Gispert.

The issue came to light following an investigation by Barcelona daily ‘La Vanguardia’ which published its story under the suggestive title “Meninos da rua in the Barcelona suburbs,” alluding to the street children of Brazil.

Although in the case of Brazil, the children are national citizens and not immigrants.

Spanish law does not allow children to be expelled “as adults are” but also makes no provision for helping them, said both central government and the Catalan authorities.

In order to survive, the young immigrants are forced to beg, steal or prostitute themselves, with their only chance for help coming from non governmental groups working on human rights, but they have to be located first.

According to ‘La Vanguardia’ the NGOs and immigrant associations in Barcelona have frequently needed to seek urgent medical attention for children suffering serious physical damage as a result of enforced prostitution.

Another measure considered by the Spanish government is to propose the European Union (EU) reduce the amount of cooperation for development funding to Maghreb countries which fail to control illegal emigration to Europe.

Sources in Spain’s foreign ministry described aid to the Maghreb and Palestine as generous, suggesting a substantial reduction for those “who do not take measures against illegal emigration.” Meanwhile, aid to countries with more severe controls should be increased as an incentive, they added.

In 1997, the EU contributed some 160 billion dollars for the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries and the Palestine National Authority. Morocco was one of the nations most benefitted by these funds.

Italy, Germany and Austria all backed the Spanish stance. Italy’s foreign minister, Lamberto Dini walso called for a halt on more trade association agreements in the Mediterranean, if these do not involve a clause obliging the Arab countries to accept the return of irregular immigrants expelled from Europe.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry has a report from the Interior Ministry stating immigration on precarious embarkations is not occurring at a massive rate, although the issue is dramatic as the occupants often drown in the Mediterranean.

Statistically five Africans per day die crossing the 14 kilometer-wide straights of Gibraltar, most of them aged between 16 and 30 years old, according to figures from the Association of Immigrant Moroccan Workers (ATIME) in Madrid.

And then there are people willing to risk all time and time again.

One particular case hit the headlines in July this year when Fatima Sadiki, an eight-month-pregnant 19 year-old Moroccan girl was picked up on a fragile vessel a few miles off the coast by the Spanish Civil Guard Maritime Service.

This was not the first time Fatima had been apprehended by immigration officers. In April, she had been detained and deported to Casablanca – her home city, after living illegally in Almeria, Spain, with her husband Abderraman Deluf.

Deluf has been living legally in Spain since 1990, but Fatima has not yet had her application approved. Now, following the birth of her daughter, she has been given a period of grace to be together with her husband, but will have to return to Morocco if her situation is not resolved.

Adele, a 20 year-old Zairean, also eight months pregnant, also risked the life of her child to scale the three-metre-high fences around Ceuta, a Spanish strategic enclave separated from Morocco.

As her husband helped her over, she fell from the top of the fence.

“I felt great pain, but was lucky because I fell on the Spanish side,” Adele told Madrid daily “El Mundo.” The baby was later born safely.

The NGOs claim a better approach would be to increase the amount of immigrants allowed into Spain, also swelling cooperation aid to the Maghreb to encourage economic development there.

This is the only way to stop the mass immigration which is the natural result of the marginalisation and poverty in these States.

But the autonomous government of Catalonia insists security measures must be stepped up.

The project for the child reception centre includes facilities to prove the age of inmates by radiological tests, as the Catalan government believes many of them are adults lying about their age in order to avoid expulsion.

Spain has spent 38 million dollars on the frontiers of Ceuta and Melilla -its other enclave in North Africa – mostly going double metallic fencing 8,200 metres long and 2.5 to three metres high.

The whole length of the fence is armed with special lighting systems, video cameras, control panels and police posts. The 42 water drainage openings near the border with Morocco were sealed off in July to block entry to immigrants.

So far this year more than 450 people have managed to break through the barriers regardless of the sophisticated devices.