Spain
02.11.00
Urgent Interventions
Spain: detention and alleged torture and ill-treatment of several street children of Moroccan origin
Case ESP 021100.CC
CHILD CONCERN
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your urgent intervention to the following situation of the autonomous communities of Ceutas and Melilla in Spain.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT was informed by reliable sources of the arrest, detention and, in some cases, the alleged torture and ill-treatment of several street children of Moroccan origin, in Ceuta and Melilla.
According to the information, almost one hundred street children of Melilla, are facing the possibility of being repatriated or displaced to peripheral neighbourhoods or to the Tarajal border, as has allegedly happened on other occasions.
The same source reported that in Ceuta street children are often picked-up in police wagons in the city centre, they are allegedly harassed in detention and some of them ill-treated not only by police officers but also by the educators who run the centres of VIAS (Islamic Volunteers of Social Action), an institution of social workers allegedly with a fundamentalist character.
Denunciations exist confirming the arrest and illegal expulsion of minors, for example that which was presented by a group of police officers of the city of Ceuta, on 5 October 1998. In this denunciation, the police officers note that the minors were expelled from the national territory for the reason that they did not have the assistance of an interpreter and therefore no judicial assistance.
Furthermore, representatives of the local government and the Delegate of the Government of Melilla have allegedly declared that they would initiate shortly the expulsion of the 60 children who have grown up on the streets on the ground of “lack of financial means to maintain them”.
The International Secretariat of OMCT expresses its grave concern about the situation, and particularly about the physical and psychological safety and integrity of all street children of Ceuta and Melilla and calls on the Spanish Government to protect them as any other Spanish child, without any discrimination on the ground of national origin, race or social status, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Action requested:
Please write to the authorities in Spain urging them to:
i. guarantee the safety, the physical and psychological integrity of all street children and especially of those of Ceuta and Melilla;
ii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the allegedly arbitrary detention and ill-treatment in order to avoid any reiteration and to identify and sanction those responsible;
iii. put an immediate end to the persecution and harassment of all street children, and especially those of Moroccan origin;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards and in particularly the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Addresses
Presidencia del Gobierno, S.E. D. José María Aznar Lopez, Complejo de la Moncloa - 28071 Madrid. Portavoz del Gobierno, Dr. Pio Cabanillas; Fax: (+ 34) 91 321 40 30
Director del Gabinete de la Presidencia, D. Carlos Aragones Mendiguchia, Complejo de la Moncloa - Madrid Fax : (+ 34).91.390.0356
Ministro del Interior - Jaime Mayor Oreja Paseo de la Castellana, 5 - 28071 Madrid Fax : (+ 34) 91.522.1538. (+ 34).91.522.5865
Defensor del Pueblo - Fernando Alvarez de Miranda y Torres Eduardo, 31 - 28071 Madrid Fax : (+ 34) 91.308.1158
Consejo General del Poder Judicial - Presidente Francisco Javier Delgado Barrio Marques de la Ensenada, 8 - 28071 Madrid Fax : (+ 34).91.310.0306
Fiscal General del Estado - Jesús Cardenal Fortuny, 4 - 28071 Madrid
Fax : (+ 34).91.319.3317
Ministro de Asuntos Exteriores - Juan Abel Matutes Plaza de la Provincia, 1 - 28071 Madrid España Fax (+ 34).91.366.3856
Ministro de Justicia, Dr. Angel Acebes Paniagua, Fax.: (+ 34)9 1 390 22 68
Tribunal Tutelar de Menores de Melilla; Fax: (+ 34) 95 268 05 29
Tribunal Tutelar de Menores de Ceuta; Fax: (+ 34) 95 651 36 34
Representaciones Diplomáticas de España en sus respectivos países
Geneva, 02 November 2000
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
CHILD CONCERN
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your urgent intervention to the following situation of the autonomous communities of Ceutas and Melilla in Spain.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT was informed by reliable sources of the arrest, detention and, in some cases, the alleged torture and ill-treatment of several street children of Moroccan origin, in Ceuta and Melilla.
According to the information, almost one hundred street children of Melilla, are facing the possibility of being repatriated or displaced to peripheral neighbourhoods or to the Tarajal border, as has allegedly happened on other occasions.
The same source reported that in Ceuta street children are often picked-up in police wagons in the city centre, they are allegedly harassed in detention and some of them ill-treated not only by police officers but also by the educators who run the centres of VIAS (Islamic Volunteers of Social Action), an institution of social workers allegedly with a fundamentalist character.
Denunciations exist confirming the arrest and illegal expulsion of minors, for example that which was presented by a group of police officers of the city of Ceuta, on 5 October 1998. In this denunciation, the police officers note that the minors were expelled from the national territory for the reason that they did not have the assistance of an interpreter and therefore no judicial assistance.
Furthermore, representatives of the local government and the Delegate of the Government of Melilla have allegedly declared that they would initiate shortly the expulsion of the 60 children who have grown up on the streets on the ground of “lack of financial means to maintain them”.
The International Secretariat of OMCT expresses its grave concern about the situation, and particularly about the physical and psychological safety and integrity of all street children of Ceuta and Melilla and calls on the Spanish Government to protect them as any other Spanish child, without any discrimination on the ground of national origin, race or social status, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Action requested:
Please write to the authorities in Spain urging them to:
i. guarantee the safety, the physical and psychological integrity of all street children and especially of those of Ceuta and Melilla;
ii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the allegedly arbitrary detention and ill-treatment in order to avoid any reiteration and to identify and sanction those responsible;
iii. put an immediate end to the persecution and harassment of all street children, and especially those of Moroccan origin;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards and in particularly the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Addresses
Presidencia del Gobierno, S.E. D. José María Aznar Lopez, Complejo de la Moncloa - 28071 Madrid. Portavoz del Gobierno, Dr. Pio Cabanillas; Fax: (+ 34) 91 321 40 30
Director del Gabinete de la Presidencia, D. Carlos Aragones Mendiguchia, Complejo de la Moncloa - Madrid Fax : (+ 34).91.390.0356
Ministro del Interior - Jaime Mayor Oreja Paseo de la Castellana, 5 - 28071 Madrid Fax : (+ 34) 91.522.1538. (+ 34).91.522.5865
Defensor del Pueblo - Fernando Alvarez de Miranda y Torres Eduardo, 31 - 28071 Madrid Fax : (+ 34) 91.308.1158
Consejo General del Poder Judicial - Presidente Francisco Javier Delgado Barrio Marques de la Ensenada, 8 - 28071 Madrid Fax : (+ 34).91.310.0306
Fiscal General del Estado - Jesús Cardenal Fortuny, 4 - 28071 Madrid
Fax : (+ 34).91.319.3317
Ministro de Asuntos Exteriores - Juan Abel Matutes Plaza de la Provincia, 1 - 28071 Madrid España Fax (+ 34).91.366.3856
Ministro de Justicia, Dr. Angel Acebes Paniagua, Fax.: (+ 34)9 1 390 22 68
Tribunal Tutelar de Menores de Melilla; Fax: (+ 34) 95 268 05 29
Tribunal Tutelar de Menores de Ceuta; Fax: (+ 34) 95 651 36 34
Representaciones Diplomáticas de España en sus respectivos países
Geneva, 02 November 2000
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.