The Ministry of the Interior continues the returns of Sahrawis from Barajas airport. This Sunday, 21 asylum seekers who claimed to be fleeing occupied Western Sahara were returned to Morocco after weeks of detention in asylum rooms, on a flight operated by Iberia scheduled for 11:50 p.m., as confirmed by judicial sources at elDiario.es. That same night, three asylum seekers “with Moroccan passports” managed to escape from the unacceptable rooms where they were awaiting the examination of their request for international protection.
This return is in addition to the forced return of 16 other Sahrawi asylum seekers last Thursday. These thirty returns take place despite the recommendations of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to allow the entry into Spain of those who have also requested recognition of their statelessness, as is the case of the majority of citizens who call themselves Sahrawi. The Interior Ministry refuses to provide information on return operations for “security reasons”.
Among those who were fired this Sunday is Rachida Amador. The 32-year-old woman asked Barajas for recognition of statelessness because she is Sahrawi, in addition to a request for asylum due to the situation of persecution she claims to suffer in the occupied territories of Western Sahara. . Regarding him, the United Nations Refugee Agency also recommended his entry into Spain while the government studied his request for statelessness. “This Office recommends that, given the limited time limits for the statelessness procedure and the fact that it is not possible to resolve it within a reasonable time during the applicant’s stay at the airport, the applicant’s entry into the territory be authorized in order to continue with the statelessness procedure included in RD 865/2001 and in accordance with the recent decision of the Supreme Court on the possibility of initiating a statelessness procedure while the applicant is at a border post processing an international protection procedure”, insisted the UNHCR in a document ignored by the Interior.
According to the criteria of the United Nations Agency, if the Sahrawis requested at the airport, beyond asylum, recognition of their situation of statelessness – the absence of nationality, given that they do not do not identify with Moroccans -, this person should get it. authorization to enter Spain and not to be returned before knowing the outcome of said request, given that its deadlines are generally longer than those of asylum. Almost all Sahrawis residing in Barajas have requested recognition of their statelessness.
For its part, during this weekend, the government authorized the temporary entry into Spain of two Sahrawi activists who were in one of the asylum rooms at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport, who will be able to be in the country during their stay. resolved their respective requests for international protection, as published by the Efe.
Two escapes in one week
During the same night in which dozens of people were returned, six asylum seekers “with Moroccan passports” detained in the inadmissible rooms of Barajas attempted to escape from one of the inadmissible rooms of the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport. Among them, three managed to escape while the other three were arrested by the National Police, as sources from the Ministry of the Interior confirmed to elDiario.es.
This is the second successful escape from the Barajas asylum rooms in recent weeks, although they took place in different terminals, according to Interior. On October 2, four asylum seekers cut a hole in the roof to escape over the airport roof, where they managed to escape police control. Even if those who fled have Moroccan nationality, it is not known if they are really Sahrawi, given that the Ministry of the Interior has not differentiated for weeks between asylum seekers who say they are Sahrawi. – and who request protection precisely for this reason – and Moroccans.
The flight of these people comes at a time when dozens of citizens holding Moroccan passports, including many Sahrawis, have been stuck for weeks in different terminals in Barajas after having requested asylum upon their arrival in Spain. Most of them left Marrakech airport on a flight to Cuba, but during their stopover in Madrid, they took the opportunity to request international protection from the Spanish authorities.
Sources from the United Police Union (SUP) detail that the various escapes occurred thanks to the drilling of “several holes in the ceiling” of these premises. “From the union, letters were sent to request that the false ceilings be sealed and already in January of this year we submitted an urgent request to improve safety conditions,” says the police union. A spokesperson for the police association affirms that, to carry out this last escape, certain asylum seekers “destroyed the bases of certain beds to sharpen them and thus chip the ceiling”, she adds.
The police union Jupol also denounced this Monday the security and health conditions in the asylum rooms of Barajas. “The unacceptable room in Barajas does not meet the minimum security or health conditions,” said Jupol spokesperson Ibón Domínguez in statements reported by the Efe agency.
These people arrive in the asylum rooms of Spanish airports and, once disembarked, express the need to request international protection at border control. This procedure – applied in airports, ports or border posts – is different from that activated on national territory: it is an accelerated procedure, in which the authorities must respond within a few days if they admit or not this request. Once submitted, candidates wait for the response in these rooms with limited places, from which they cannot leave. If the resolution is positive, these people will be able to enter the national territory with a temporary residence permit as asylum seekers. If this is negative, they will be sent back to their country of origin. In the case of requests linked to statelessness status – which generally register all Sahrawis in parallel because they do not have a recognized nationality, since they do not identify themselves as Moroccans – the procedure is generally longer, c This is why international organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees recommend the entry into Spanish territory of these people so that they can wait for the resolution of the procedure in Spain and thus guarantee their viability.
An internal decree of the National Police establishes a “special surveillance control” on people “of North African origin” who make up the group of migrants not admitted to Madrid-Barajas airport, as published by elDiario.es. The order, to which this media had access, affirms that “100% of the escapees” from the rooms where those denied access are concentrated were until now “of North African origin”.
The letter is dated last Thursday, October 3. On September 30, as described in the police document, “four North African people” used the “rififi operating mode”, consisting of accessing the roof and from there to the public space of T2. For this reason, he adds, “it is necessary to strengthen security measures.” Consulted by the General Directorate of Police, a spokesperson declined to comment.
The Code of Ethics of the National Police ends with a decalogue which, in its fifth point, stipulates that any discrimination based on race, ethnic origin, religion, beliefs, sex, age, ideology, disability or any other reason of the same nature should be avoided. Furthermore, circular number 2/2012 of the General Directorate of Police “relating to the identification of citizens” prohibits “massive or indiscriminate actions based solely on ethnic criteria”.
Amnesty International has repeatedly denounced the repression inflicted by the Moroccan authorities against attempts to protest by the Sahrawi population residing in the territories occupied by Morocco. The organization has documented cases of torture or ill-treatment against Sahrawi activists, particularly after participating in or organizing demonstrations for the holding of a self-determination referendum, ordered by the UN in 1991 and which is still ongoing decades later.
