Two Christian organisations and four Catholic groups have called for a judicial inquiry after at least 13 illegal migrants were killed and dozens injured while attempting to enter Spanish territory in North Africa, reports the Catholic Explorer.

|TOP|The Christian groups made the call in a letter to the European Union’s Justice and Home Affairs Council last week.

Signatories to the letter included representatives of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conference of the European Community, Caritas Europe, the Jesuit Refugee Service, the International Catholic Migration Commission, the Quaker Council for European Affairs and the ecumenical Churches Commission for Migrants in Europe.

The letter read: “As churches and Christian organisations working on migration and asylum, we are deeply concerned about the dramatic events at Ceuta and Melilla.

“These events at the EU-Moroccan border represent the latest example of more and more people’s desperate, often deadly, attempts to reach the European Union.”

The Christian representatives said even those attempting to enter the EU illegally had “inalienable dignity”, adding that the incidents called into question the European Union’s claim to be a “community of justice”, committed to “promoting respect for fundamental rights”.

The deaths and injuries occurred when Moroccan and Spanish troops clashed with illegal immigrants from the African continent as they attempted to cross barbed-wire fences into the Spanish enclaves in Morocco between late September and early October.

|QUOTE|“We expect a thorough judicial investigation into these cases of homicide. The EU will have to prove its commitment to the human rights of migrants and refugees,” they said.

Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Annan, said he was “deeply concerned” over the deaths earlier in the month, with the EU Commission promising to send a delegation to study the situation.

The letter continued: “Human beings, even if they try to enter the EU by irregular means, must never be considered as illegal. A responsible debate should stop criminalising these human beings.

“Politicians have made proposals to introduce more restrictive measures and increase spending in this field. We are convinced this approach does not offer a long-term solution. Higher fences will not stop irregular migration.”

In the letter, the church organisations said the Cueta and Melilla violence highlighted the need for a “human-rights-based approach”, which recognised asylum rights and EU labour market demands, while also helping tackle “root causes of forced migration” in the Third World, reported the Catholic Explorer.