Spain to bring 500 girls from Ceuta to mainland

Spain's government is preparing to transfer around 500 unaccompanied girls from the North African enclave of Ceuta to the mainland, according to Spanish newspaper El País. The Ministry of Youth and Child Affairs is actively seeking solutions to accommodate these minors.

The girls are part of the thousands who crossed into Ceuta from Morocco in late July. While initial plans focused on returning them to Morocco, authorities are now re-evaluating the situation for these specific girls. Hundreds of underage boys also remain in Ceuta, but Spanish officials have not indicated any plans to accept them.

The ministry emphasized that all of Spain's autonomous communities must participate in receiving the minors, with plans to arrange foster care placements. This initiative comes after UNICEF highlighted the "unsafe and unhygienic conditions" faced by hundreds of minors in Ceuta. UNICEF's director, Lara Contreras, described how hundreds of children wander the streets alone, in unsanitary conditions, urgently needing basic necessities.

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Hundreds of them wander alone in the streets in unhygienic conditions and urgently need three meals a day.