The photographs and videos sent by residents from inside the reception centres for migrants and asylum seekers in Melilla show that the minimum health guarantees are not offered and the centres do not comply with the necessary measures to protect their health.
- Minimum recommended social distance between people cannot be met due to overcrowding in the centers.
- No minimum basic hygiene and cleaning conditions are ensured and the state of the facilities is absolutely unsanitary.
The previous photographs and videos, taken yesterday, August 25th, from inside the CETI and "Plaza de Toros" (the bullfighting ring which has served as a temporary reception center for the past months), two of the places set up to receive migrants and asylum seekers in Melilla show something that Solidary Wheels and No Name Kitchen, as two organisations working on the ground, have been denouncing for months, and that is that both places, as well as the city's minors’ centres, currently far exceed their capacity, and that the conditions of cleanliness and hygiene are deficient, something which seriously endangers the health of those who reside in them and who have been in isolation since the confinement recently decreed on them on August 21st after the detection of two Covid-19 cases.
The situation is so unsustainable that yesterday a protest took place among the people confined in the CETI in Melilla. The protest took place from the early morning on August 25th and continued well into the night. Melilla's CETI is a place with capacity for 782 people and could be currently hosting more than 1,400, although there are no current official figures.
The confinement increases the health risks among those who have been isolated and confined since friday 21st, and the situation is becoming increasingly tense and unbearable.
Solidary Wheels and No Name Kitchen, both entities with a presence in Melilla, denounce this situation, which violates the most basic human rights and condemns the overcrowding and lack of hygiene of many people on the move, both in the CETI and in another of the places set up to receive migrants and asylum seekers during the pandemic. This is the case of “Plaza de Toros”, which has been the subject of numerous complaints due to overcrowding, unhealthy conditions and the lack of protection and social distancing measures in the face of the Covid19 pandemic.
The conditions in the minors centres in Melilla, such as La Purísima or Rostrogordo, which sometimes triple their accommodation capacity, are no better, increasing the risk of infection among the minors.
For all these reasons, Solidary Wheels and No Name Kitchen demand that the Interior Ministry of the Spanish Government, as recommended by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, and the sub-committee for the prevention of torture, as well as the Spanish Ombudsman, urgently carry out as many transfers to the mainland of migrants or asylum seekers as are necessary to provide the fair health guarantees that any human being deserves.