Horror !: Dehumanization of African migrants condemned by UN

 UN experts decry the ongoing impunity for the horrendous dehumanization of African refugees on the edge of Europe.

Geneva, October 31, 2022, Alarmingly, months after several migrants of African heritage, including refugees and asylum seekers, perished in violent clashes with border security personnel in Melilla, Spain, experts from the UN revealed today that there is still no clear responsibility. Together with the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent and the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, E. Tendayi Achiume issued the following statement as her mandate as the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance came to an end today:

On July 13, 2022, we submitted letters to the Moroccan and Spanish governments expressing our alarm about the violence. The information provided in these conversations indicates that on the morning of June 24, 2022, 2,000 males, largely of African descent, Africans of Sudanese and South Sudanese ancestry approached the border barrier between Morocco and Spain and made attempts to climb the 6- to 10-meter chain-link fences that enclose Melilla. The disproportionate and deadly use of force by Moroccan and Spanish law enforcement officials resulted in at least 37 African deaths and dozens more injuries.

Some of 65 sub-saharian immigrants are pictured aboard the Marine Rescue boat "Puntas Salinas" upon its arrival in Los Cristianos on October 4, 2008, on the spanish Canary island of Tenerife. (DESIREE MARTIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

Tourists look at a group of 45 would-be immigrants, including 10 believed to be minors, being treated by Red Cross workers after their arrival at the port of San Miguel in Tenerife, Spain's Canary Islands, on November 13, 2008. (DESIREE MARTIN/AFP/Getty Images) #
The racialized exclusion and deadly violence used to keep out people of African and Middle Eastern descent and other non-white populations, regardless of their rights under international refugee or international human rights law, is tragically revealed by the violence captured in videos of the scenes at Melilla's gate. It is impossible to draw any other conclusions given the lack of genuine responsibility for the fatalities and injuries on June 24.

Melilla's events, along with several other instances of border violence and fatalities, show a readiness to put African and other immigrant and refugee lives at risk in order to protect Europe's borders. The boundaries of nations that appear devoted to human rights have dead corpses as a seemingly acceptable characteristic. human rights as a global endeavor.

Both the governments of Spain and Morocco have responded to the messages.

We again demand that those responsible for the bloodshed in Melilla be brought to justice. International human rights legislation mandates a thorough inquiry, compensation for victims and their families, and a guarantee against a repeat.

ENDS

*The experts include Morris Tidball-Binz, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, Ms. Dominique Day, Mr. Sushil Raj, and Ms. Miriam Ekiudoko from the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, as well as Ms. E. Tendayi Achiume, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance

The Human Rights Council's so-called Special Procedures include Special Rapporteurs. The most extensive collection of The term "independent experts" alludes to the Council's independent fact-finding and monitoring processes that handle either particular national circumstances or global challenges on a broad range of topics. Experts in Special Procedures labor voluntarily; they are not employed by the UN and are not paid for their efforts. They act on their own behalf and are independent of any institution of power or group.

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