The association Judges for Democracy (JJpD), which represents the most progressive wing of the race, is calling on the Government to grant international protection to the Sahrawi people held, in some cases for weeks, at the Madrid-Barajas airport. In a statement released on Thursday, the secretariat of this association maintains that the denial of this protection by the Ministry of the Interior violates the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). This court condemned Spain in 2014, in another case with affected Sahrawis, for violating the articles of the European Convention on Human Rights which declare the right to effective judicial protection against violations of the right to life or the possibility of being subjected to degrading treatment by third States.
“The ECHR forced Spain to guarantee, legally and materially, that asylum seekers remain in Spanish territory during the examination of their cases until the internal decision is adopted. This ruling recognises the risk faced by the Sahrawis living in its territory and refers to the legal regime of the territory, recalling the report by Hans Corell,” recalls the judicial association.
In the admissions hall of Barajas airport there are currently 35 asylum seekers documented according to the latest census carried out by the UN Mission for Western Sahara (MINURSO), an entity that certifies their status as Sahrawis. These people, JJPD recalls, denounce the difficult conditions in which they find themselves: overcrowding, lack of hygiene and medical care. For this reason, twelve of them have started a hunger strike. Sumar, a partner of the PSOE in the Government, has joined the request for protection and rejects their deportation.
JJpD recalls that, by denying them asylum, the Interior Ministry is going against the favourable opinion of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which has validated the documentation presented by the Sahrawis and which, the association recalls, in accordance with articles 34 and 35 of Law 12/2009, regulating the Right to Asylum, “plays an essential role in this procedure”. The judges also refer to the reports of the UN, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International denouncing the situation of the Sahrawi population in the territories occupied by Morocco; and they recall that the National Court is pursuing cases against high-ranking Moroccan military officers for the crime of genocide in real concurrence with various crimes of murder, illegal detention, injuries and against sexual freedom, committed against the Sahrawi people since Morocco’s occupation of the territory in 1975 until today.
“In this context, the fears expressed by asylum seekers regarding the ill-treatment they may suffer in the event of return are neither irrational nor unfounded. These allegations must be examined individually, which, according to the doctrine of the ECHR, means keeping the applicants in Spain until these circumstances have been thoroughly examined, concluding not only the administrative phase, but also the jurisdictional phase,” warns the statement released by JJpD. “For all these reasons,” the text concludes, “we ask the Ministry of the Interior to guarantee the Human Rights of those people who request international protection, complying with current legislation and jurisprudence, guaranteeing the principle of non-refoulement and that in its resolutions it adopts an approach to the protection of Human Rights, gender and childhood.”
The Executive says it complies “with the protocols”
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The First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, defended in the plenary session of Congress this Thursday that the Government “is complying with the protocols in international law”. She explained that the asylum room at the airport accommodates 60 people “with Moroccan passports” and that the medical staff is there. Among them is a one-and-a-half-year-old girl, suffering from an allergy, who “has not needed medical attention”, according to the minister. Montero has said that Spain is the third country in the EU with the most asylum applications and has described the country as “solidary”.
Sumar has presented a non-legislative proposal in which it exposes “the continuous reduction of food aid” for Western Sahara, estimating the number of Sahrawi refugees affected at more than 170,000. The proposal also states that the UN World Food Programme does not have sufficient funds to “achieve the minimum required ratios of calorie intake”.
For all these reasons, Sumar proposes to allocate 10 million euros to an “extraordinary humanitarian aid fund” to cover “the basic food supplies for the population of the Sahrawi refugee camps until the end of 2024.” In addition, it calls for an increase in “all items dedicated to international cooperation for Development and humanitarian aid for the refugee population” in the General State Budget.
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