Three European lawmakers say humanitarian situation in Ceuta is 'grim'

Two months after tens of thousands of migrants flooded into Spain’s African enclave of Ceuta, three European lawmakers have described the humanitarian situation as “grim” and growing worse by the day.

The members of the European Parliament were speaking at a joint press conference in Brussels after completing a fact-finding mission to the territory.

While most of the estimated 72,000 people were returned to neighbouring Morocco within several days, a few thousand are believed to have remained in the city.

"Ceuta cannot become a laboratory for the reduction of rights, nor can it become an open-air refugee camp, which is what it will lead to if people are still trapped in this territory,” said Estrella Galán, MEP for The Left.

She said the solution to the problem could not be keeping “thousands of people in makeshift emergency camps”.

Jaume Asens, an MEP for the Greens, said they found that in Ceuta, there was “torture, inhumane treatment by military forces”.

“These are not isolated events. There is a pattern. There are patrols that do night sweeps and that beat up [people],” he said.

“They steal from migrants, force them to shave their hair, to kneel down to kiss a Christian cross or the Spanish flag.”

“We are talking about something very serious: the State going out on a hunt, when they should be protecting people, [instead] they are violating their rights," said Asens.

Rights group, Amnesty International, has also accused Spain’s armed forces of torture and other cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment of the stranded migrants.

The Spanish government on Wednesday ordered the military to conduct an internal probe to identify any individuals potentially responsible the alleged acts.

It is estimated that around 5,000, including 1,200 minors, remain in Ceuta weeks later, according to the national government. Ceuta’s local government cites a higher figure.

The sudden influx of the migrants into Ceuta, which has a population of about 84,000, put a huge strain on resources and angered many residents.

Local authorities said that Spain’s central government ignored warning signs before the border was breached.