Barcelona: A mass attempt to cross the border of the Spanish enclave of Melilla last year resulted in the deaths of tens of migrants and refugees, and Amnesty International accused Spain and Morocco of covering up the incident.

Around 2,000 Sub-Saharan African immigrants and refugees made an attempt to enter Morocco's North African enclave on June 24, 2002. The NGO reported that at least 76 people are still missing and at least 37 people died.

Spain has claimed there were no fatalities on its territory, but Morocco claims 23 people died in a crush when migrants fell from the fence.
One year after the massacre in Melilla, Spanish and Moroccan authorities not only still deny any wrongdoing, but also obstruct efforts to uncover the truth.

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Amnesty claimed that authorities had not made any effort to repatriate the victims' remains and had withheld information that could have helped an investigation, including a complete list of names and causes of death and CCTV footage.

"The lessons of Melilla must be learned or - as the shipwreck off the Greek coast shows - arbitrary loss of life, violence, and impunity at borders will continue," said Callamard.

This month, a fishing vessel carrying hundreds of migrants that set out from Libya with the intention of arriving in Italy capsized off the south-west coast of Greece. At least 82 people died, and hundreds remain unaccounted for.

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The Melilla incident was looked into by Spain's Attorney General, who decided not to press charges against Spanish officers who, in his opinion, were not aware of the fatal crush. Legislators in Spain rejected requests for a parliamentary investigation.

However, rights organisations and unbiased investigators criticised how authorities on both sides of the border handled the situation.

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The UN's Commissioner for Human Rights stated that they found "no genuine and effective access to asylum at the border," while Spain's Ombudsman claimed that Spain had returned those who jumped the fence without processing their cases.

The investigation by Spain's Attorney General, according to a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, was conducted "with full guarantees and in full depth." Requests for comment from Moroccan authorities were turned down.