(Milan) – The Spanish government and local authorities in its North African enclave Ceuta should act urgently to provide adequate shelter to all migrants and asylum seekers living unsheltered since entering Ceuta from Morocco at the end of July, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should provide the opportunity to apply for asylum for those who want to.

“Thousands of people have been in the streets in a legal vacuum, exposed to sexual violence and without adequate shelter, food, or sanitation for almost three weeks,” said Judith Sunderland, senior associate director for refugee and migrant rights at Human Rights Watch. “Despite the challenging situation, Spain should quickly mobilize sufficient resources to ensure humane and orderly management of the crisis for the good of migrants and Ceuta residents alike.”

During a four-day research trip to Ceuta, from August 15 to 18, Human Rights Watch spoke with 76 migrants, including 42 individual interviews (37 adults and 5 unaccompanied children) and group or brief conversations with 34, including 4 unaccompanied children.

Tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers swam from Morocco into Ceuta between July 30-31, and it is unclear how many remain in the city. Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gómez said on August 13 that 5,000 are still in Ceuta, while local organizations told Human Rights Watch there may be as many as 10,000.

On August 17, Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration Elma Saiz Delgado announced the installation of four tent camps in Ceuta with space for 1,500 adults, and authorities began transferring people to two sites on August 20. But they will not meet the need. Many people interviewed speculated that Spain’s government delayed assistance to convince people to return to Morocco.

Humanitarian groups believe more than a thousand men and boys were living in makeshift huts on a city beach called Trampolín, with thousands more living on the streets, in a warehouse district near the Moroccan border, and the forested hills on the city’s edge. Roughly 700 to 750 women and girls are in two open-air sports facilities set up by neighborhood associations, while others are on the streets. The shortage of shower and toilet facilities means people are using parks, empty lots, and the sea.

On August 3, the Spanish Red Cross started to distribute food at Trampolín beach; the government said on August 17 that it was handing out 4,000 food bags a day. Luna Blanca, a local charity, told Human Rights Watch they were distributing between 2,700 and 3,500 meals a day in five locations with government funding.

Click to expand Image Men on the Trampolín beach, Ceuta, where more than a thousand migrants and asylum seekers camped in makeshift huts for almost three weeks after swimming to Spain’s enclave in North Africa from Morocco in July 2026. August 2026. © 2026 José Antonio Sempere Gálvez for Human Rights Watch Click to expand Image Migrants and asylum seekers gather for the once-daily food distribution at Trampolín beach, Ceuta, which means waiting hours in the sun for a bag of food. August 2026. © 2026 José Antonio Sempere Gálvez for Human Rights Watch

“I went without food for the first two or three days; I only drank water,” said Mahmoud, a 36-year-old Palestinian from Gaza. “I stayed up in the mountains for 10 days before coming down to the beach with the others. It’s hardly a life, but I say alhamdulillah (praise be to God), it’s nothing compared to what my family is going through in Gaza.”

As of August 20, Human Rights Watch saw no indication that Spanish authorities had begun any legal procedures or individual assessments of adults. While Moroccans appear to make up the majority of those who arrived in late July, Human Rights Watch also spoke with men and boys from Chad, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Yemen, Algeria, Syria, and Egypt. Many had spent years on arduous journeys and expressed their wish to apply for asylum in Spain.

“I want to apply for asylum,” said Mohamed, a 20-year-old from Sudan. “But we don't have any information yet.”

Click to expand Image Two of the migrants and asylum seekers who arrived in Ceuta in July 2026 wash their clothes in the sea at Trampolín beach, August 2026. © 2026 José Antonio Sempere Gálvez for Human Rights Watch

Many Moroccan women spoke of escaping domestic abuse. Fatima, 47, from Tetouan, swam to Ceuta with her 11-year-old son to escape her abusive former husband.

“I left my country not because I’m hungry, but because my husband is a drug addict; he beats me and my son,” she said. She showed a long scar on her arm where she said he cut her with a knife. Her attempts to report him to the Moroccan police, she said, were futile. Fatima went to the Ceuta police, but they told her to go to the warehouse district where hundreds are sleeping outdoors “until there is a solution.”

Under European Union rules in place since mid-June, Spain should have already screened everyone, including security and health checks and a “preliminary vulnerability check” to identify stateless people, survivors of torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment, and people with “special needs,” under EU law.

It is unclear whether Spain will resort to accelerated asylum border procedures, which could lead to swift rejections, including because asylum seekers were previously in Morocco, which the EU considers a “safe third country” where people should have applied for international protection.

Moroccan nationals, including women alleging fear of domestic violence, risk return because of a “safe country of origin” readmission agreement with Spain. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Spain has urged authorities to provide information about the right to asylum and identify protection needs through proper screening. Migrants not needing international protection may be eligible for Spain’s Humanitarian Assistance Program.

At Trampolín beach, most men and boys were living in huts they built from sticks, cardboard, and trash bags. A few groups had tents. In a warehouse district near the border with Morocco, hundreds of people—including families with young children, single mothers with children, and unaccompanied children—were sleeping on cardboard.

Click to expand Image A woman tidies around her makeshift shelter in the warehouse district on Ceuta where hundreds have been sleeping rough since swimming from Morocco into Spain’s enclave, August 2026. © 2026 José Antonio Sempere Gálvez for Human Rights Watch

Residents’ associations in El Principe and Sidi Embarek neighborhoods set up improvised shelters in two open-air sports venues to provide safety for women and girls amid reports of sexual violence. Authorities set up one canopy tent in each location, but most are living under strung-up tarps. Volunteers in both locations said that authorities had transferred as many as 200 girls from the El Principe site to government-run facilities in Ceuta.

Four emergency-room doctors said they had treated a total of two women and six girls, including one 14-year-old Moroccan and one 11-year-old from an unidentified African country, for sexual assault and rape. A 25-year-old Moroccan woman said a Spanish-speaking man raped her the night she arrived; she has not reported the rape to the police. The Ceuta public prosecutor’s office said it had received 13 cases of sexual assault between July 30 and August 17, with the majority of victims not city residents.

The situation for unaccompanied children is particularly concerning, Human Rights Watch said. There are no reliable statistics on how many may be in the city. A source in the Ceuta government, which under Spanish law is responsible for unaccompanied children, said they had taken charge of 1,385 as of August 18. The same day, the Interior Ministry said the police had registered 2,168 unaccompanied children.

Click to expand Image Food distribution by Luna Blanca, a Ceuta nongovernmental organization, at the warehouse district in Ceuta where hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers are sleeping rough, August 2026. © 2026 José Antonio Sempere Gálvez for Human Rights Watch Click to expand Image A migrant collects a container of lentil soup at a food distribution by Luna Blanca, a Ceuta nongovernmental organization, in a warehouse district in Ceuta where hundreds have been sleeping rough for weeks, August 2026. © 2026 José Antonio Sempere Gálvez for Human Rights Watch

Two schools converted into temporary shelters for children need to be vacated before the school year starts in early September; authorities are trying to identify alternative sites despite objections from residents. Spanish media reported on August 19 that the youth ministry was working to transfer of 500 unaccompanied girls from Ceuta to other parts of Spain.

At the end of day on July 31, the Spanish government said the majority of those who swam to Ceuta in the previous 48 hours had returned to Morocco voluntarily, amid reports that Spanish security forces rounded people up in trucks to take them to the border. Spanish authorities officially recorded 82 deaths, while there may have been at least 67 on the Moroccan side according to the Spanish group Caminando Fronteras.

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