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Spain has sent more than a dozen migrants who reached the enclave of Ceuta and were turned down for asylum back to Morocco.

It marks the first deportation of its kind from the region since a mass border crossing in July garnered global media attention. The Interior Ministry said the group was sent back to Morocco after it agreed to receive them and that they remain on Moroccan territory at present.

Official numbers or nationalities were not confirmed, but migrant and rights charities operating in Ceuta said, “16 people from Senegal, Nigeria, Yemen, Cameroon and Bangladesh were deported”.

The NGOs say that such returns fail to take into account the risks associated with Morocco’s treatment of migrants from other countries ⁠and contradict the values of Spain’s leftist ​government.

Spain defends decision to return migrants to Morocco

“Spain, despite its [progressive] speeches in Europe, is not ensuring that human rights guarantees are met for people who cross its borders in ‌Ceuta and Melilla,” said Virginia Alvarez, an Amnesty International researcher. “Morocco does not respect many human rights.”

Both Morocco’s Interior Ministry and the International Organisation for Migration, which cooperates with Moroccan authorities on voluntary return programmes for third country nationals or migrants, responded to requests for comment.

NGOs say that 16 people have been deported to Morocco (Reuters)

A spokesperson ⁠for Spain’s Interior Ministry said that Morocco is considered by the European Union to be a safe country, and that deportations are carried out “with all the necessary safeguards”. The spokesperson provided no further details.

Morocco has received growing criticism for cracking down on freedom of expression and peaceful dissent. Amnesty International says that discriminatory laws continue to undermine the rights of women and LGBT+ people, including the criminalisation of consensual same-sex sexual relations and restricted access to sexual and reproductive health services.

Spain rushes to solve Ceuta migrant crisis

Over a 48-hour period in July, around 80,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta, a tiny enclave that along with Melilla represents Europe’s only land borders with Africa.

While most returned within days, thousands remain ‌and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government is under pressure from the EU ​and a frustrated populace to fix the Ceuta crisis before elections ‌on 29 November.

Spain’s Interior Ministry said Morocco is considered a safe country by the EU (Reuters)

Spanish authorities are housing 8,000 migrants in reception centres and processing asylum applications lodged by the majority of people remaining in Ceuta.

Several NGOs including Amnesty International have complained to the Spanish ombudsman ‌that some of ​the more than 13,000 people the government ‌says have returned to Morocco voluntarily since ​the middle of August were forced to leave, including non-Moroccans.