The aftermath of the large-scale irregular crossing of the border between Morocco and the Spanish exclave of Ceuta continues to be felt weeks after the incident. On August 15, Moroccan security forces arrested 294 people who were reportedly attempting to reach Ceuta. According to Moroccan state broadcaster Medi 1 TV, 61 Moroccans were also arrested for facilitating migration attempts. Commenting on the arrests, Hakim Sikouk, president of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), told the EUobserver online newspaper that some of the arrested individuals had been “mistreated.” He added that most of them would be “deported to their countries of origin” except for Sudanese nationals who would be “sent to the Sahara of the ‘Oriental region’ on the border with Algeria.” The recent arrests follow the charging of 86 people in connection with the large-scale irregular crossing of the Morocco-Spanish border into Ceuta at the end of July. Separately, families of the estimated more than 100 people who died in the incident on July 30-31 have been trying to identify and, where possible, repatriate the bodies of their loved ones.

The EU has agreed on plans to establish a maritime rescue center in eastern Libya. On July 30, EU Ambassador to Libya Nicola Orlando announced that a maritime rescue coordination center (MRCC) would be set up within the framework of the EU Naval Force Mediterranean Operation Irini, funded by Italy and Malta. Writing on social media, Orlando stated that the MRCC, initially proposed in 2017, would “contribute to enhancing Libya’s capacity to conduct search and rescue operations at sea in accordance with international standards and human rights.” The announcement came less than two weeks after 31 NGOs published a joint statement calling on EU institutions and member states to “urgently end their shameful cooperation with Libyan authorities on migration control.” The statement, signed by ECRE and several ECRE member organizations, urged the European Commission and EU member states to “halt plans to continue or deepen cooperation with the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) in eastern Libya, including funding an MRCC, given the serious risk of human rights violations and abuse.”

More than 1,100 Sudanese nationals have reportedly returned home from Egypt in the latest phase of an ongoing voluntary repatriation scheme. According to a statement issued by the Al-Amal Committee and reported by the state-run Sudan News Agency (SUNA), the returnees left Cairo on August 13. The convoy departed 10 days after a smaller one in which 350 Sudanese nationals were returned from Alexandria on August 3. A total of 6,074 people have reportedly been voluntarily repatriated under the program.

A large group of NGOs has used the third anniversary of the EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to call on the EU to end its border- and migration control support to Tunisia. In a joint statement issued on July 16, the 46 human rights and humanitarian NGOs highlighted “serious concerns regarding the EU’s complicity in grave violations of international refugee law and international human rights law” and urged the European Commission and EU member states to ensure accountability and oversight, suspend support for migration control and operational cooperation, safeguard international protection, promote human rights and the rule of law, and deliver an EU human rights policy that upholds rights and refugee protection.

📝 The report was fully and exclusively transferred and translated by the Studies Department at AboMatrix

🔗 Source Document / المصدر الأصلي