We were taken to the border separately. I was with another kid who was ten. He wanted to jump out of the car but I didn't let him. They didn't tell us why we were going. Only, when we got close to the border, the [Spanish] police said, "You are going to go to your family." There were two secret police in our car plus the other man. They didn't hurt me, but they hurt the small kid because he wanted to get out of the car. They were slapping him, twisting his arm, and putting their fists under his neck like they were choking him. . . .
At the [Moroccan] police station one of the [Moroccan] police stepped on our toes with his boots; we were wearing flip-flops. He asked us where we were from and how we got to Melilla and stuff. We were put in a storage room with beer and wine. The police were there the whole time. They didn't abuse us again until the end when they let us free. Then they hit us with a long stick or baton that has high voltage. They hit us all over, all of us. But the biggest one tried to protect the rest of us. All the doors were closed and we couldn't get out. There were more than ten police in this big storage room. We were cornered together in part of the room where two police were hitting us. The others were laughing and insulting us. It lasted about five minutes. The big kid got really hurt-on his legs, back, arms-and had lots of bruises. He got released first. Then me. Then the others. When we were released, we waited outside for the others. -Ayman M., sixteen, describing his expulsion in July 2001. He had lived in Melilla since he was eight years old, was staying in a residential center, and had temporary residence documents when he was summarily expelled.
In Morocco, the police search you. If you have anything, a knife or anything, they take it. Then they beat you with a baton. . . . Also they use an electrical cable. There's one police officer from Morocco who does this. -`Abd al Hadi S., fourteen, Ceuta, November 6, 2001. Human Rights Watch researchers observed scars on his back that he said were caused by police beatings with an electrical cable.
Abuses in Residential Centers
Last Sunday I was hit and kicked on my calves by a fat guard and a thin guard. One kicked my legs out from under me and the other held me by my shirt and slapped me with an open hand. . . . They are the educadores [educators]. - Salah S., fourteen, describing his punishment for fighting with another child at Purísima Concepción Fort in Meililla in October 2001.
One time we escaped, three of us, when a boy took a piece of metal and broke the door [of the punishment room]. One of the older boys caught us and hit us. They took us and put us in another room and locked the door and then [one of the educators] came and hit us with a baton like the police use. He hit me on the head and the face and leg. -Wafiq H., thirteen, describing conditions at the San Antonio Center, Ceuta, November 5, 2001.
Because of one small boy none of us knew, we were all forced to go outside without blankets in the cold. Eventually they let us in, one by one or in small groups of three or four. I was let in at about 1 a.m. I don't know how long the others stayed outside. -Salah S., fourteen, describing how staff at the Purísima Concepción Fort residential center punished all the children after a child stole a sheet in October 2001. Melilla, October 22, 2001.
Sometimes the police catch me and take me to San Antonio [residential center] but I escape. I never stay there long because the older kids hit you and steal your shoes. . . . The officials at the center don't do anything when they see the older kids hitting the small kids. . . . If you have money the older kids take it from you and hit you at San Antonio. -Lutfi M., twelve, Ceuta, November 5, 2001.
The good [residential center staff], when you tell them they [the older youth] are hitting you, they try to investigate. The bad ones refuse to do anything. They'll say, "Fight back" or "You need to fend for yourself however you can." -`Abbas A., sixteen, describing conditions at the San Antonio Center in Ceuta, November 7, 2001
It's very bad. The beds are ripped up. Everybody is very crowded. You don't eat well. It's very bad for you. There were eight of us in the cell. You can't leave. If you need to go to the bathroom, you go in a spot on the floor or in a pail. -Wafiq H., thirteen, describing the "punishment cell" at the San Antonio Center, where he spent three days at the end of October 2001. Residential center staff do not closely monitor the room, and as a result younger, smaller children lose out when mattresses and food are in short supply. Ceuta, November 5, 2001.
When I first got there, I slept with two sheets on the floor and another one to cover me. About fifteen days later, a boy gave me his place. He went to go sleep with the older kids, the kids who are fifteen and sixteen. There were about twelve of us in the room, including the four on the floor. -Wafiq H., thirteen, describing one stay at San Antonio in September 2001. He estimated that "there were 100 kids there, more or less" in space designed for less than half that number. Ceuta, November 7, 2001.
Those who have been [at San Antonio] a long time have their own beds. We have a sheet, that's all, a very thin one. We just sleep on the floor, without a mattress or anything. -Shawqi M., fifteen, describing conditions at the San Antonio Center, Ceuta, November 7, 2001. With the exception of very long-term residents, children said they had to change bed assignments every night, often sleeping on the floor with only filthy sheets that had been used by other children.
The pain comes often, when it is cold, or when someone hits me. I tried to go to the hospital when I was in pain but they wouldn't admit me. They won't accept you at the hospital unless some one from San Antonio comes with you. When the pain comes I can't move so who will come to take me to the hospital? -`Abd al Samad, sixteen, Ceuta, November 8, 2001. `Abd al Samad suffers from renal disease, a potentially life-threatening condition, but was denied medical care after he was told to leave the San Antonio Center in October 2001 after living there for two and a half years. Residential staff refused to accompany him to the hospital, and hospital staff refused to treat him without residential staff being present. He eventually received a needed operation after the fiscal for minors ordered his hospitalization, but was only admitted to the San Antonio Center for recuperation after the fiscal issued a second order to guarantee his admission.
I wanted to go to school and learn Spanish but they wouldn't let me. Other kids went, but not me. I went to the director to ask to go to school but it didn't help. . . . . [S]ometimes we paint, and that's it. Only the bigger kids go to school. - Sulayman S., fourteen, describing conditions at the San Antonio Center, Ceuta, November 5, 2001
People don't do anything. There's not even a chance to learn. There aren't any studies or vocational training. Breakfast is at nine, then you clean a little, then do nothing. Lunch is at one. You clean and then do nothing. The merienda [a light early evening meal] is at six or six-thirty, maybe seven. We clean a little, then we do nothing. Dinner is at ten-we clean and then do nothing. -Munib I., sixteen, describing conditions at the San Antonio Center, Ceuta, November 6, 2001.
