Two weeks ago, we told you about a great injustice being committed by the Spanish Government's "Temporary Stay Centre for Immigrants" in Melilla (the CETI) towards people on the move.
Many of the people we are currently accompanying on the ground are of Moroccan origin and are homeless. These people are denied access to the CETI unless their application for international protection has been accepted, at which point they can travel legally to the mainland. The difference is that people from Central and West Africa can enter and stay overnight even if they have not applied for asylum. This is a very normalised discrimination in Melilla, access to a centre depends on the nationality of the person on the move.
This injustice is even more striking when on the 13th January the government delegate, Sabrina Moh, declared that the CETI currently holds under 250 people, the lowest figure in years. Moh pointed out that the residents of the CETI are mostly 'sub-Saharans', without explaining why that is the case.
Discrimination against people on the move of Moroccan origin is notorious and in no way justified by law.
We understand that these people are in the city of Melilla as a transit point in their migratory process; if they have the option of travelling legally, they will do so as soon as possible, provided they have the financial means to pay for a ferry ticket to the mainland. Until that time arrives, they find themselves on the streets. Both the management responsible for the CETI and the government delegate in Melilla are aware of all this and have not yet provided any justification.
We denounce this de facto discrimination which has no basis in Spanish or international law.
News from the Faro de Melilla with the statements of the government delegate in the autonomous city, Sabrina Moh: "The CETI of Melilla has less than 250 immigrants: the lowest number in years" https://elfarodemelilla.es/ceti-melilla-cuenta-menos-250-inmigrantes-cifra-baja/