The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of Spain, which in 2014 deported some African migrants who entered illegally “Melilla”.
Despite a previous decision by the European Commission condemning Madrid practices, these African migrants were deported without being able to register official asylum applications.
According to “Migrant News”, in August 2014, dozens of African migrants attempted to cross the border separating Morocco from the Spanish enclave of “Melilla”, crossing the fence which is more than six meters high and barbed with wires. A group of these migrants managed to cross to the Spanish side, but the police arrested them.
The authorities immediately returned these migrants to Morocco, without being able to apply for asylum.
It is known that two young men from Mali and Côte d'Ivoire decided to address these practices before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and they considered that they were subjected to collective expulsion “without examination of their files and in the absence of any procedure or legal assistance”.
At the end of 2017, the European Legal Commission decided to condemn Madrid for violating international law by expelling these migrants who entered irregularly into the Melilla enclave.
On Thursday, 13 February, after three years, the decision was overturned as the High Commission of the European Court of Human Rights considered that Spain had not violated the articles stipulated in the European Convention on Human Rights relating to the implementation of collective expulsions.
The European Court of Human Rights considered that migrants had other options to apply for asylum or obtain a visa, but they were the ones that “decided not to use” these legal methods.
However, the Spanish Association for Refugee Aid CEAR strongly rejected these allegations and said that the two African youths could not seek asylum at the border post which the ECHR referred to.
According to CEAR, since the establishment of this center, no individual from sub-Saharan Africa has been able to reach it and seek asylum through it.
#Spain #ECHR #Migration #Asylum #SubSaharanAfrica
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