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EU/Africa: 1st anniversary of the shooting of migrants in Ceuta and Melilla

01 October 2006

Events, account and an excellent publication "The Black Book of Ceuta and Melilla", by Migreurop (108 pages, French, pdf):

A number of initiatives have been organised throughout Europe and in several African countries (Benin, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia) as part of the transnational day of action against migration controls on 7 October, which also marks the first anniversary of the shooting of migrants at the Spanish-Moroccan border fences of the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in late September and early October 2005.

List of events (English, link to the noborder network)
List of events (French, link to Pajol)

The "assault" by "sub-Saharan migrants" in the media, by Peio Aierbe (Mugak)

The Black Book of Ceuta and Melilla, by Migreurop

The Migreurop network has published a "black book" to document the situation in the two Spanish north African enclaves, which features analysis, photographs and extensive testimonies from migrants themselves, who are thus given the opportunity to describe their experiences of what EU institutions euphemistically refer to as an "integrated system to fight illegal immigration", which is repeatedly, and annoyingly, considering that migrants have been shot, abandoned to die in the desert, hunted down and detained in inhumane conditions, followed by the phrase "while respecting human rights".

Introduction to the Black Book, from the Migreurop website

A year ago, the media lights focussed on the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, Euro-African frontiers where some migrants were killed for having sought to enter the European Union (cf our article from October 2005, Ceuta et Melilla : L'UE déclare la guerre aux migrants et aux réfugiés).

One year later, although Morocco is no longer the focus of news reports, the situation of exiles and refugees is still as precarious as it was, with their fundamental rights violated on a daily basis. Most of all, the walls and electronic barriers at the Euro-Mediterranean border are increasingly more difficult to cross, and sub-Saharan exiles are forced to employ routes that are always longer and more dangerous: while we know about the arrivals of boat people in the Canary islands, how many daily deaths have there been in the Atlantic Ocean?

With The black book of Ceuta and Melilla, the Migreurop network seeks to allow the victims of last year's events to speak, at the same time as placing this repression within the European context of the externalisation of border control policies and policies to deny the right of free movement to the peoples of the South. The 17 deaths of Ceuta and Melilla are, in fact, the most visible consequence of a policy that is being pursued and whose unnamed victims are limited to silence and anonimity.
(translated by Statewatch)

Intro: Le Livre Noir de Ceuta et Melilla (in French)

The Black Book of Ceuta and Melilla (pdf, 106 pages, in French)