Mr. Ahmed Moussaoui
Minister of Youth and Sports
Ministry of Youth and Sports
Boulevard Ibn Sina - Agdal
Rabat
Morocco

Dear Minister,

I am writing to express my concern about abuses of children in Ceuta and Melilla described in the Human Rights Watch report, Nowhere to Turn: State Abuses of Unaccompanied Migrant Children by Spain and Morocco. The report documents cases of Moroccan children who were abused in Ceuta and Melilla and then summarily expelled to Morocco, where Moroccan police beat and ill-treated them and then released them on unfamiliar streets, sometimes late at night. The report also notes with concern Morocco’s lack of appropriate facilities for children living outside a family environment or convicted of crimes, and raises concerns over the adequacy of the child protection centers run by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

I urge you to ensure that all juvenile detention facilities operated by the Ministry of Youth and Sports meet at least the standards set forth in the U.N. Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of Their Liberty. Priority should be given to ensuring they are staffed by qualified and well-trained professionals and provide children with access to education, health care, and services to facilitate their rehabilitation. Detention of children should only be used as a measure of last resort, and the ministry should work with specialized nongovernmental organizations to develop alternatives to detention and programs that facilitate children’s reintegration in society. I also urge you to institute mandatory training of the directors and staff of ministry-run child protection centers on the special needs and rights of unaccompanied migrant children.

I look forward to receiving your reply, and thank you for your attention to this important human rights matter.

Sincerely,