OneWorld.net (U.S.)

OneWorld.net note: A new report details how migrant populations trying to reach Europe are routinely detained and mistreated in Mauritania, as a result of the "intense pressure" the European Union places on Mauritania to combat emigration to Europe.

• Thousands of migrants from Senegal, Mali, and other African countries travel to Mauritania in order to cross into the Canary Islands, which are Spanish territory. Previously, migrants attempting to reach Europe would travel through Morocco, but increased Moroccan border controls have made Mauritania a more popular destination.

• Many migrants are placed in the Nouadhibou detention facility, referred to as Guantanamito, or "Little Guantanamo," in a reference to the United States' Guantanamo Bay prison camp. The detention center was converted from a former school in 2006, and is estimated to have held over 4,000 migrants.

• The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants recently released this year’s Refugee Survey, which describes Europe as one of the "worst places for refugees." The Survey explains that "countries on the periphery of Europe had the harshest policies, protecting their wealthy neighbors to the north and west, often for money."

Migrants Face Illegal Arrest in Mauritania

From: Amnesty International

Irregular migrants trying to reach Europe are being arrested, ill-treated and collectively expelled from Mauritania without opportunity to challenge the decision according to a new Amnesty International report.

Published on Tuesday 1 July the report, Mauritania: Nobody wants anything to do with us, arrests and collective expulsions of migrants denied entry into Europe, also says that sometimes migrants aren’t even sent back to their own home countries.

Not Far: Migrants now travel to Mauritania, in order to reach Spain's Canary Islands © Google Earth Since 2006, thousands of migrants accused of setting out from Mauritania with the intention of entering Europe via Spain’s Canary Islands, have been arrested.

Many of those people have been held in a detention centre at Nouadhibou in northern Mauritania. Some have been ill-treated by members of the Mauritanian security forces.

Nationals of West African countries say they have been arbitrarily arrested in the street or at home and accused, apparently without any evidence, of intending to travel to Spain.

According to the National Security Service, 3,257 people were held in the centre in 2007, all were then sent to Senegal and Mali, regardless of their nationality or country of origin. These people are left at the border, often without much food and with no means of transport.

Salvatore Saguès, Amnesty International’s West Africa Researcher, said that “This policy of arrests and collective expulsions by the Mauritanian authorities is the result of intense pressure exerted on Mauritania by the European Union (EU), and Spain in particular, as they seek to involve certain African countries in their attempt to combat irregular migration to Europe.”

Amnesty International calls on the Mauritanian authorities to ensure that their security forces are abiding by international law.

The organization also calls on the EU and its member states, most notably Spain, to take responsibility for ensuring that migrants are treated according to international human rights standards.

“EU states are using countries such as Mauritania to manage the flow of migrants who attempt to reach Europe from their territory. They have become the de facto ‘policemen of Europe’,” said Salvatore Saguès.

Click here for more from Amnesty International on migration and human rights issues in Mauritania and around the world.