Asylum seekers and refugees in Spain
Recent stories
Valencia: another anti-immigrant demonstration
In May, the organisation España 2000 mobilised 300 people in a demonstration in Russafa against immigrants and crime, demanding that Valencia be cleansed of undocumented migrants.
30 May 2003 (75 words)
Madrid school withheld dinners from immigrant children
The Socialist Party has called for an investigation into the activities of the headmistress of a school in Madrid who systematically denied immigrant children school dinners over a period of months while their applications for free school meals were considered.
30 May 2003 (153 words)
Malaga: case reopened into fire at police station which claimed seven lives
Malaga's Provincial Court has ordered the reopening of the case involving a fire which killed seven migrants at Malaga police station on 27 December 2002, to check whether police safety measures at the station were defective.
28 February 2003 (596 words)
Canary Isles: children at risk
Delia Blanco, president of CEAR, the Spanish commission that provides aid to refugees, says that the minister in charge of immigration affairs is not meeting his responsibilities concerning the needs of immigrant children arriving in the Canary Islands.
16 December 2002 (163 words)
Canary Islanders oppose Tenerife centre
Political parties in Tenerife have clashed over plans to build a new reception centre in the capital, Santa Cruz.
9 November 2002 (97 words)
Girona tops deportation league
In the first seven months of 2002, the Catalonian province of Girona, which is close to the French border, expelled more immigrants than any other area.
4 November 2002 (59 words)
Canary Islands crisis sparks detention regime rethink
Following the crisis on the Canary Islands, plans are afoot to build new detention centres across Spain.
4 November 2002 (293 words)
Repatriation budget tripled
Figures from the 2003 budget for the department of immigration suggests that the government expects to triple its spending on repatriation and expulsion of undocumented immigrants.
11 October 2002 (175 words)
Stowaway truck deaths
Four North Africans found dead in Basque country
11 October 2002 (272 words)
The human trade: more dead at sea
In August, figures were released suggesting that some 4000 people, the majority of them unidentified, have lost their lives since 1997, either in the Straits of Gibraltar or the waters around the Canary Islands.
9 October 2002 (316 words)
Valencia: women's refuges aid deportations
The Valencia social welfare department has instructed all women's refuges to pass on information on undocumented immigrants using their services.
4 October 2002 (118 words)
New internment centre at Alicante planned
In September, the government delegate in Valencia, Juan Cotino, announced that, as detention centres in Valencia and Murcia were full, a new internment centre would be built at Alicante.
19 September 2002 (147 words)
West Africa: repatriation agreements sought
Foreign ministry delegate Ignacio Gonzalez has asked the Canary Islands Chamber of Commerce to use its negotiating power with the governments of west African countries to secure repatriation agreements.
11 September 2002 (169 words)
Death at Fuerteventura police station
Migrants, apprehended attempting to arrive on Fuerteventura by boat, are immediately taken to Fuerteventura police station for processing.
4 August 2002 (208 words)
Spanish immigration law - arbitrary and unfair
In July, Human Rights Watch issued a report accusing the Spanish government of failing to ensure the uniform and coherent implementation of its immigration law, resulting in arbitrary and discriminatory treatment of migrants.
25 July 2002 (145 words)
Ceuta's migrant reception centre expands
Ceuta's migrant reception centre, which started as a series of makeshift huts, has now been turned into a permanent facility accommodating nearly 400 people.
28 May 2002 (33 words)
Malaga: detention centre protestor threatened with deportation
Police arrested and started expulsion proceedings against a 25-year-old Argentinian student after he took part in a protest outside a CIE detention centre in Malaga.
16 March 2002 (37 words)
Fuerteventura detention centre - one of the worst in Europe
As part of its new plans to reinforce the Canary Isles, the government is set to inject funds for improving the Fuerteventura detention centre in Las Palmas, reputed to be one of the worst in Europe.
8 March 2002 (376 words)
NGOs report serious difficulties in applying for asylum
In August, UNHCR reported that, in the past year, around 6,800 people have been denied the right to claim asylum.
1 October 2001 (176 words)
Madrid - prostitution capital
There are no signs in a let-up in the trade of women for prostitution.
1 October 2001 (155 words)
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