ATLANTIC ROUTE and SPAIN: Reception centres in Ceuta ‘overwhelmed’ ― NGO accuses Mauritanian authorities of rights violations ― First transfer of unaccompanied minors from Canary Islands ― Canary Islands government repeats request for additional Fronte…

• Authorities in Ceuta have warned that reception centres in the enclave are ‘overwhelmed’ following high numbers of arrivals.
• An NGO has accused authorities in Mauritania of abusing people on the move in the country.
• The transfer of unaccompanied minors from the Canary Islands to other Spanish regions has finally begun.
• The government of the Canary Islands has restated its request for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) to provide it with additional support.

Authorities in Ceuta have warned that reception centres in the enclave are ‘overwhelmed’ following high numbers of arrivals. According to the Faro de Ceuta newspaper, tents have been erected outside one centre that is accommodating approximately 900 people despite only having 512 places. In addition, the municipal council has reported that a centre for minors is operating at 400% capacity (hosting approximately 500 minors). In July, Mayor-President of Ceuta Juan Jesús Rivas told the País newspaper: “We’re a territory that comprises 20 square kilometres of the 500,000 square kilometres that make up the whole of Spain, but we take in 3% of the minors”. “Who doesn’t get that this is an unsustainable situation?” he added.

The number of people attempting to make the dangerous crossing from Morocco into Ceuta by sea remains high. On the night of 15/16 August, approximately 300 people attempted to swim to the Spanish enclave. A week earlier, approximately 100 people, including a number of children, made the same attempt on 9 August, and in July, at least 54 minors succeeded in reaching Ceuta. Unfortunately, there have also been a number of fatalities along the route. According to Spanish authorities, at least 21 people have died whilst trying to reach Ceuta from Morocco by sea in 2025, including at least 4 in August.

An NGO has accused authorities in Mauritania of abusing people on the move in the country. According to a report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on 27 August, Mauritanian security forces committed “serious human rights violations” against people, many of whom were trying to leave or transit the country, between 2020 and early 2025. The report “documents abuses by the Mauritanian police, coast guard, navy, gendarmerie, and army during border and migration control, including torture, rape, and other violence; sexual harassment; arbitrary arrests and detention; inhumane detention conditions; racist treatment; extortion and theft; and summary and collective expulsions”. It also finds that the human rights violations were “exacerbated” by both the EU and Spain through their ongoing support to Mauritania’s border and migration control authorities. Commenting on the report, Lauren Seibert from HRW said: “For years, Mauritanian authorities followed an abusive migration playbook – sadly common across North Africa – by violating the rights of African migrants from other regions”. Regarding the EU and Spain’s role in exacerbating the rights violations, she said: “For their part, the EU and Spain should ensure that their migration co-operation with Mauritania prioritises rights and saving lives, instead of supporting security crackdowns that lead to abuses”. The Mauritanian government told HRW that it “reject[ed] allegations of torture, racial discrimination or systematic violations of migrants’ rights’ and it referred the organisation to “recent steps to improve respect for rights” and its new standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the “management” of people on the move. The European Commission said that its partnership with Mauritania was “solidly anchored” in respect for rights and that it was supporting the SOPs and other rights-focused initiatives.

The transfer of unaccompanied minors (UAMs) from the Canary Islands to other Spanish regions has finally begun. On 11 August, 10 UAMs were flown from Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria to the Spanish mainland. It is envisaged that two transfers of between 15 and 20 UAMs will take place each week with a view to relocating up to 1,200 in the next six months. In mid-August, 5,180 UAMs were being accommodated in reception centres on the Canary islands despite there only being 900 places. Commenting on the transfer – the first to take place since the adoption of a decree-law in March – Minister for Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory Ángel Víctor Torres Pérez said that the Spanish government was fulfilling its duty to both the Canary Islands and to “these children, who are under international protection due to the difficult situation in their country”.

The government of the Canary Islands has restated its request for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) to provide it with additional support. In his response to a consultation on the future legal framework governing Frontex, President Fernando Clavijo proposed that the agency should increase its presence on the archipelago “with aerial means, vessels, radars and other systems that improve maritime and border surveillance” so that it “not only acts in border control, but also in coordinated humanitarian support in accordance with International Law of the Sea and fundamental rights”. It is unclear if the Canary Islands government’s position is supported by the central government whose approval would be required for any additional Frontex involvement. Commenting on the situation, Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska said that Frontex had “already acted in many ways” to help the Canary Islands.

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