Spain is preparing to transfer 500 unaccompanied migrant children from Ceuta to the mainland, Youth and Childhood Minister Sira Rego announced, as police investigate at least 15 suspected rapes in the enclave over the past week. The plan focuses on relocating 500 girls after a 12-year-old was hospitalised following harassment and groping by other migrants.
The child protection system is now at 4,600% capacity, Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas said, with roughly 1,350 children in shelters and an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 unaccompanied minors in the city. UNICEF warned of children sleeping on streets for up to 20 days and proposed deploying mobile identification units.
The European Commission insisted all migrants remaining illegally in Ceuta, including unaccompanied minors, must be returned to Morocco, though Rego called deportations "outrageous" and said returns must be voluntary. Vivas said at least 100 people died during the July 30 mass crossing that brought some 70,000 people into the enclave.