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The number of unaccompanied foreign minors registered in Ceuta has decreased to 169, or more than three times less than the figures registered in March 2020.
According to a report of La Vanguarida, in March 2020, when COVID-19 started to spread the figures stood at 590 following new changes applied at the Tarajal border, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The data provided by Europa Press noted that at present there are 75 Moroccan adolescents housed in the La Esperanza Temporary Relocation Center who are cared for by the local administration.
Local media reports showed that in the first two months of this year, only 35 unaccompanied foreign minors reached the resources of the Child Protection Service of the local administration, on January 24 and February 11, even though after carrying out osmometric tests five of them have been considered adults.
The significant decrease in irregular entries of people under the age of 18 is a result of current weather conditions that make journeys by sea more complicated as well as the new changes applied at the Tarajal border between Spain’s Ceuta as well as Morocco.
The border was reopened on May 17, last year, however, entry was only permitted to EU countries’ citizens who hold permission to circulate in the Schengen Zone, meaning that citizens of Morocco were only permitted to reach this territory if they obtain a visa.
Despite the increase in the number of children and adolescents detected at this route, pressure from the Alaouite Kingdom started to be noticed since the beginning of 2018, between August 1, before the spread of the Coronavirus in 2019 and March 14, the number of minors unaccompanied Moroccans homeless in the city increased by a total of 90 per cent.
The figures reveal that in March 2020, the number of unaccompanied migrant children registered by the local administration reached 590, which due to the COVID-19-related restrictions decreased until closing that year at 331.
The number of persons registered at the Autonomous City still surpassed the maximum assistance capacity that was assigned last summer by the Sectoral Commission for Children and Adolescents to Ceuta. Back then it was agreed to quantify the number of places available under ordinary conditions at 88 as well as the maximum increase for emergency situations at 133 or 50 per cent more.
A recent study provided by GAD3 for EL PUEBLO revealed that more than half of the Ceuta population consider that visa requirements imposed on Moroccans should not be lifted.
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