Among the victims are 14 irregular immigrants who entered Ceuta in the swimming raid of thousands of people from Morocco at the end of last July, five cases of rape and six women who were raped by more than one attacker. There are two investigated of Spanish nationality and a foreigner with legal residence in the European country. Many of the cases will not be clarified due to lack of information, according to the Unified Police Union.

First modification: 08/28/2026 - 20:40 Last modification: 08/31/2026 - 20:14

Some 16 sexual assaults have been recorded by the Spanish Public Ministry in Ceuta, the enclave of the European nation on the border with Morocco, since the incursion of around 80,000 migrants at the end of July, according to sources from the Prosecutor's Office to the EFE news agency. Most of the complaints are from foreign women in an irregular situation and minors.

14 of the victims had entered Ceuta as of July 30. Six of them suffered attacks committed by more than one person and there are five victims of rape.

Among those investigated for these crimes there are two suspects of Spanish nationality, another is a foreigner residing in Spain and the rest are unidentified, the same sources detailed.

The State Attorney General, Teresa Peramato, advanced part of this data during her visit on Thursday, August 27 to Ceuta, where she announced a reinforcement of the institution with three more prosecutors in the city.

Peramato warned that the foreigners who remain in Ceuta are in "a very delicate humanitarian situation."

To display this content from X (Twitter), you must allow audience measurement and advertising cookies.

Most of the 80,000 migrants who crossed the border between July 30 and 31 returned to Morocco voluntarily in the following hours, although hundreds of them remain in Spanish territory, many outdoors.

Although there is no official count of the foreigners who continue on the streets of the North African enclave, the Government has registered more than 1,500 minors.

The attorney general also reported an increase in crimes against property and attacks and resistance to law enforcement agents.

Meanwhile, unrest is growing among local residents, who demonstrate almost daily to denounce the socioeconomic and insecurity crisis for which they blame the Government.

Read alsoWhat will happen to migrants in Ceuta?: Spain clears Trampolín beach, while relocating hundreds

"We will be psychologically destroyed"

With migrant shelters overcrowded in Ceuta, some women have been forced to camp outdoors, alongside hundreds of Moroccan, sub-Saharan and South Asian men.

Wafae Atid, a 28-year-old woman from Taza, northern Morocco, told the Reuters news agency that "many men try to harass the girls every night, sometimes even following them when they go to the bathroom."

"I can't sleep at night because you don't know what's going to happen."

"It's really terrible. They try to catch you, keep you away from others, maybe for bad things, for sex, you know?", says the young woman before stating that she does not want to return to Morocco due to her family's rejection for not professing Islam.

Along with a dozen women, Wafae Atid lives in a makeshift camp with cardboard boxes, inflatable mattresses and blankets in a wooded area. They try to stay as close as possible to a police van parked at the entrance to the Temporary Immigrant Reception Center (CETI), managed by the Government near El Trampolín beach.

"You're always afraid, so you don't sleep at night. I fall asleep at 7:00, when everyone wakes up. I can't sleep at night because you don't know what's going to happen," he adds.

The Unified Police Union (SUP), the largest of the union in Spain, alerted in mid-August of at least 15 complaints of sexual assault in the improvised camps in Ceuta, many of which would be difficult to process due to the generic information provided by the victims, according to a statement sent to Reuters.

"We will be psychologically destroyed, we will become mentally ill. None of the women here will have a normal life again after what we have experienced. If we reach our goal, perhaps we can forget it, but if we do not reach it and they deport us, we will not be able to forget anything," Moroccan migrant Zhour Hammouch told the British agency.

Another of the women who lives around the saturated reception center is Dikra Tetouan, who crossed to Ceuta with her sister Aya, 17 years old. He assures that the women he lives with have been victims of harassment "not just once, but many times."

"We try to protect ourselves by shouting so that people come and take care of us. We report to the police that we have been victims of harassment or assault and they respond: 'We can't do anything for you.'"

The women who reported attacks received police, judicial and health care, according to the SUP, and are now housed in a new center for victims of sexual assault managed by local social services.

The organization requested the expansion of the women and families unit of the Ceuta Police and a greater number of citizen security patrols in improvised camps.

Read also “Now we are children begging on the street”: a week after the crisis, migrant minors in Ceuta are waiting for a shelter

SOS for migrants in Ceuta

Several human rights organizations that operate in Ceuta or that specialize in sexual violence – including Save the Children, the UN children's agency (UNICEF) and Amnesty International – have warned of the extreme vulnerability of migrant women in Ceuta, particularly minors, for which they have called for urgent measures, such as safe accommodation and specialized support.

Lucila Rodríguez-Alarcón, general director of the PorCausa Foundation, pointed out that "when large numbers of displaced people find themselves together in overcrowded spaces, these situations of sexual violence arise."

Rodríguez added that it is necessary to separate bathrooms and showers by gender and apply the same security protocols as in refugee camps.

"We don't feel safe because there are showers for men, but for women there are only bathrooms, so we try to shower inside the bathrooms, but it's not even enough," says young Moroccan Wafae Atid.

Read also “Have you seen my son?”: the drama of the families searching for the missing after their attempt to reach Ceuta

With Reuters, EFE and local media

Related keywords

The content you requested does not exist or is no longer available.