The 29 deaths and hundreds of injured [but the number is still provisional and uncertain], both on the side of the migrants and the Moroccan security forces, are a tragic symbol of the European Union's (EU) policy of externalising its borders, with the complicity of a southern country, Morocco. The death of these young Africans at the borders of 'fortress Europe' signals the deadly nature of the securitarian cooperation on immigration between Morocco and Spain.
The premises of the drama that took place on Friday 24 June had been announced for several weeks. The campaigns of arrests, the sweeping controls in the camps and the forced expulsions of migrants in Nador and its region foreshadowed this drama. The resumption of security cooperation between Morocco and Spain in March 2022 had as a direct consequence the multiplication of coordinated actions between the two countries.
These actions are characterised by violations of the human rights of migrants in Nador, Tetouan and Tangier, as well as in Laâyoune and Dakhla. The tragedy of this sad day is the result of the planned pressure on the exiled people.
For more than a year and a half, migrants in Nador have been deprived of access to medicines and health care. They have seen their camps burned, their property looted and their meagre food destroyed. Even the little drinking water they had in the camps was confiscated.
These punitive expeditions led to a spiral of violence on both sides. This violence, while reprehensible in itself, is indicative of the systematic violence to which migrants in Nador have been subjected for years by both Spanish and Moroccan law enforcement agencies. These practices have been condemned on numerous occasions by national and regional bodies and by the United Nations.
In the face of this new tragedy at the border, and in view of the number of victims, which will unfortunately continue to rise, the organisations signing this press release state the following:
- We express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims, the migrants and the police.
- We condemn the lack of immediate care for the injured migrants, which has exacerbated the death toll. We demand that adequate and quality health care be provided to all those hospitalised as a result of this tragedy.
- We demand that the Moroccan authorities proceed with the identification and repatriation of the bodies of the victims to their respective migrant communities.
- We demand the immediate opening of an independent judicial inquiry, both in Morocco and Spain, as well as internationally, to shed light on this human tragedy.
- We demand an end to the criminal policy financed by the European Union and its many accomplices, states, some international organisations and various civil society organisations that subcontract this criminal policy.
- We call on the diplomatic missions of African countries present in Morocco to fully assume their responsibility for the protection of their citizens, instead of being accomplices to the current policies.
- We call on human rights and migrants' rights organisations and movements to mobilise at this critical time when the right to life is more at risk than ever.
25th June 2022, Rabat
