A migrant woman in Ceuta who says she has faced sexual harassment while camped near the city's reception centre. Women camped outdoors near a temporary reception centre in the occupied Ceuta, sleeping in makeshift shelters of cardboard and blankets, say they are being sexually harassed, Reuters reported.
Three women interviewed by Reuters described near-nightly harassment, particularly near toilets. One, a 28-year-old from the Moroccan city of Taza, said she positioned her shelter close to a police van at the centre’s entrance for safety, and said harassment came from men of various nationalities. Another, 20, crossed into the occupied Ceuta with her 17-year-old sister.
More than two weeks after roughly 72,000 people crossed from Morocco into the occupied Ceuta in a mass border surge, between 5,000 and 8,000 migrants remain in the colony, authorities said. Most were young men who have since returned to Morocco, but many women and children — Moroccan, sub-Saharan African and South Asian — stayed behind.
Assaults Reported, Cases Opened
Spain’s largest police union, the SUP, told Reuters that 15 sexual assaults had been reported in the occupied Ceuta since July 30, most involving minors, largely in beach and wooded areas where migrants gathered. Victims are now housed in a new centre for assault survivors, the union said. Spain’s Interior Ministry did not confirm the figures.
Occupied Ceuta’s court authorities separately confirmed three sexual assault cases. The accused in two cases were jailed pending trial; in a third, a judge ordered the alleged assailant’s deportation.
Health Minister Monica Garcia confirmed five women had been treated for sexual violence and said securing safe housing was the most urgent priority. Migration Minister Elma Saiz said authorities and the Red Cross were distributing daily meals and hygiene kits, with new shelter capacity being added.
Rights groups including Save the Children, UNICEF and Amnesty International have warned of migrant women’s vulnerability in the occupied Ceuta and called for gender-segregated facilities and refugee-camp-level safety protocols, Reuters reported.
- Source: Reuters