Bishop criticizes Spain’s use of barbed wire to keep out immigrants

December 12, 2013

A bishop in Morocco has criticized Spain’s decision to reintroduce barbed wire to deter immigrants from entering Ceuta and Melilla, two Spanish cities located on the Moroccan border along the north coast of Africa.

“Barbed wire with blades on fences in Ceuta and Melilla is an attack on the physical integrity of immigrants,” said Archbishop Santiago Agrelo Martínez, the Spanish-born bishop of Tanger, Morocco. “Those blades cut, injure, maim and are contrary to the duty which we all have to respect the rights of African men, women, and children on their journeys to European countries.”

“It is understood that a government must ensure adequate security of citizens in the territory of the nation,” he added, , according a Fides report. “But its legitimacy fades if it means that it deprives others of the fundamental right to health, wellness, food, clothing, housing, medical care, [and] necessary social services.”

 

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Further information:

• “El alambre espinado con cuchillas para defender los enclaves españoles es un ataque a la integridad física de los migrantes”, dice el Obispo de Tánger (Fides)
• "Barbed wire with blades to defend the Spanish enclaves, is an attack on the physical integrity of immigrants" says the Bishop of Tangier (Fides)