Spain: `Operation Passage'
01 January 1991
Spain: `Operation Passage'
artdoc May=1994
El Periodico (3.8.93) has highlighted the plight of North
Africans resident in Europe when they try to return to the
Maghreb for their holidays, via the Straits, using the popular
port of Algeciras.
The Spanish Civil Guard have launched `Operation Passage
through the Straits 1993' to control the passage of North
Africans. In Algeciras a clear discrimination is made by the
Civil Guard. Vehicles driven by Maghrebians have to wait in the
holding areas of Los Barrios and Tarifa, often for as long as 24
hours, whereas vehicles with Europeans - Spanish and European
occupants go direct to the ferry by way of a special priority
port. According to El Periodica, the holding areas resemble
refugee camps, where the Maghrebians face outbursts of aggression
from the Civil Guard who, armed with truncheons, prevent the
holidaymakers from leaving the designated area. One man was hit
in the testicles with a truncheon, when he tried to move on.
Another man was told `Get away from here, Arab son of a bitch'
when he tried to make a phone call. In another incident, Fatima,
a young pregnant Moroccan, had to go down on her knees and weep
before the Civil Guard would let her leave the holding area - and
even then she was only granted permission to go to hospital. The
Red Cross has been forced to intervene, distributing water and
dealing with complaints (El Periodica 3.8.93).
Work permits reduced
The number of work permits granted to foreigners fell by almost
a quarter in 1992, and of the 120,000 applications, 25,000 - 5
times as many as in 1991 - were rejected. The quota system
introduced in the past year to regulate seasonal workers has been
a failure since employers in the tourist and agricultural sectors
do not want the responsibility of housing the workers and so have
not applied for temporary permits, relying instead on native,
casual or illegal labour.
Child refugees expelled
Ten Moroccan children who stowed away at Casablanca on a ship
bound for Spain were refused permission to make asylum claims and
sent back to Morocco, where they remain in detention. The
children were locked in a cabin on board the Eva del Mar after
being discovered by the crew. Refused permission to land in
Valencia by the state governor Francisco Granados, they were
taken off the ship at Barcelona the following day, interviewed
by police and immigration officials and returned to Tangier.
Police claimed that their parents had been in touch and demanded
their return, but when the children arrived back in Morocco, no-
one came to claim them and they were put in a closed juvenile
detention centre after a day-long interrogation by political
police. Two months previously, six African stowaways who had
been refused permission to land in order to claim asylum by the
Valencia state governor were eventually allowed to enter Spain
after a further 17 days at sea. During this time they were locked
in a tiny cabin day and night.
The children's expulsion, and the apparent deception by the
authorities which led to their being denied the right to claim
asylum, has led to the formation of the `Platform for the Defence
of Immigrants', by groups such as SOS Racisme, Caritas, Justice
and Peace, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights of the
College of Lawyers, and the unions UGT and CCOO. The group
denounced the repatriation of the children and demanded a full
explanation from the Interior Ministry (El Pais 26.8.93; 5, 7,
9.9.93; 1, 2, 5, 10, 14.10.93).
Asylum and immigration
IRR European Race Audit, Bulletin no 6, December 1993. Contact:
Liz Fekete, Institute of Race Relations, 2-6 Leeke Street, London
WC1X 9HS. Tel: 071 837 0041.