Ceuta · Strait of Gibraltar # A Spanish city on the coast of Africa. Is it a colony? Portugal conquered it in 1415. The Spanish crown has held it since 1640. Morocco has claimed it since independence. In the last days of July 2026, more than 70,000 people crossed from Morocco into a city of 83,595 residents. The question is urgent again, and the answer depends on what you mean by “colony”. Ceuta, bottom left, and the Moroccan coast to the south, seen from a plane in 2019. Photo: Adam Cli, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped) Ceuta sits on a peninsula at the Mediterranean mouth of the Strait of Gibraltar, joined to Morocco. Melilla, the other Spanish enclave, lies further east along the same coast. ## The short answer: four tests, four results People who say “Ceuta is a colony” and people who say “Ceuta is Spain” are usually applying different tests. Pick the meaning you have in mind. A place taken by conquest A place ruled without political rights A place on the UN decolonisation list A place claimed by a neighbour Did European rule begin with a conquest? Yes A Portuguese fleet took the city from the Marinid sultanate of Fez on 21 August 1415. Historians do not dispute this. Are residents governed from afar, without political rights? No Since 1995 Ceuta has been an autonomous city of Spain with its own assembly. Residents who hold Spanish citizenship have the same political rights as any other Spaniard and elect one deputy and two senators in Madrid. Is it on the UN list of territories awaiting decolonisation? No The list has 17 territories, including Gibraltar and Western Sahara. Ceuta and Melilla are not on it. Does a neighbouring state claim it? Yes Morocco calls the city Sebta and has claimed it since independence. Its justice minister restated the claim in August 2026. The most accurate one-line description: colonial origin, institutions that are not colonial, contested sovereignty. “Obviously illegal” claims more than international law has settled. “Nothing colonial about it” claims more than history allows. ## From 1415 to today: how did Ceuta become Spanish? Ceuta has not been “Spanish since 1415”. Portugal conquered it, it came under the same king as Spain, and when the two crowns split, the city’s authorities stayed with Spain. Portugal Shared king Spanish crown Six hundred years on one band: 165 Portuguese years, 60 years under a shared king, 386 years under the Spanish crown. Tap a year to read what happened. - 1415 ### Portugal conquers Ceuta King John I of Portugal leads the fleet. Among his sons is Prince Henry, later called the Navigator. The city has remained in European hands without a break ever since. - 1580 ### One king for Portugal and Spain Philip II of Spain also becomes king of Portugal. The two crowns stay legally separate but share a monarch for 60 years. - 1640 ### Ceuta does not follow Lisbon On 1 December 1640 Portugal proclaims its own king again. Every Portuguese possession goes over to him except Ceuta: the city’s authorities, nobility, clergy and much of the garrison swear loyalty to Philip IV, against their own governor. It was not a plebiscite. - 1668 ### Portugal accepts it in writing The Treaty of Lisbon, signed on 13 February 1668, ends the war. Article 2 returns occupied places, with one exception: Ceuta stays with the king of Spain. - 1694–1727 ### Three decades of siege Sultan Moulay Ismail keeps the city under siege, with interruptions, for 33 years, without taking it. - 1860 ### Today’s border, after a war After the Spanish–Moroccan war, the Treaty of Tetuan cedes territory around the city to Spain “in full dominion and sovereignty”. - 1956 ### Morocco becomes independent; Ceuta stays out Spain gives up its protectorate in northern Morocco but keeps Ceuta, which had never been part of the protectorate. Rabat says decolonisation was left unfinished and takes the question to the UN. - 1995 ### Autonomous city Organic Law 1/1995 gives Ceuta its own assembly and describes it as an integral part of the Spanish nation. - 2026 ### The largest crossing in the city’s history On 30 and 31 July more than 70,000 people enter from Morocco. The details are below. ## What is Ceuta’s status today, in Spain and in the EU? Ceuta is Spain under the Spanish constitution and for the EU. For customs, Schengen and NATO, though, it has rules of its own, which explain why its border works unlike any other Spanish border. ### In Spain An autonomous city since 1995, with a local assembly and government. Unlike an autonomous community it cannot pass laws: its assembly makes regulations and can propose laws to parliament. Ceuta elects one deputy and two senators. It had 83,595 registered residents on 1 January 2025. ### In the European Union Ceuta is part of the EU but not of its customs territory: the Union Customs Code covers Spain “except Ceuta and Melilla”. The first commercial customs post with Morocco opened only in February 2025, with one operation a day in each direction. Over all of 2025 it recorded 49 imports and two exports. ### In the Schengen area Ceuta is in Schengen under a special regime, set when Spain joined in 1991 and kept by Article 41 of the Schengen Borders Code. Anyone leaving for the mainland by sea or air goes through a check. The Spanish government states plainly that irregular entry into Ceuta gives no right to travel on, to mainland Spain or elsewhere in Europe. ### In NATO Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty defines where collective defence applies: allies’ territory in Europe and North America, the territory of Turkey, and islands north of the Tropic of Cancer. Ceuta is on the African mainland and fits none of these categories. ### At the UN It is not on the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. The two states have, however, lodged opposing declarations under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: Morocco calls Sebta Moroccan territory, Spain asserts full sovereignty. ## What happened in Ceuta in the summer of 2026? In two days, almost as many people crossed the city’s border as live in it. Registered residents, 1 January 2025 83,595 People who entered from Morocco, 30 and 31 July 2026 over 70,000 People who entered in May 2021, the largest crossing until then over 10,000 The 2026 figure is the Spanish government’s. The interior minister spoke of about 72,000, and in September the Spanish press reported more than 80,000. Most returned to Morocco within days. ### The crossing From late June, Moroccan social media carried talk of a mass crossing, and train tickets to the border town of Fnideq were selling out. On 30 July thousands of young people swam around the border breakwaters or walked across, until the next morning. The governments in Madrid and Rabat gave the same explanations: trafficking networks, social-media rumours and the way a Spanish Supreme Court ruling of 29 June had been understood. Under the ruling, people who swim in must be identified individually and go through a return procedure with safeguards; they can no longer be turned back on the spot. Soraya Aybar, a political scientist and journalist based in Casablanca, spoke with dozens of young people who had crossed: none had heard of the ruling. She noticed something else: Moroccan police, usually very present at this border, were missing for hours. ### The dead There is no single toll. The first counts came separately: Spanish authorities had found 78 bodies in Spanish waters, and the group Caminando Fronteras had counted another 63 in hospitals in northern Morocco, 141 in all. The latest official toll, from the authorities in Ceuta and Morocco’s National Human Rights Council, was 96 dead. On 3 September Pedro Sánchez told parliament that 141 people had died; neither his office nor the interior ministry could tell AP how that number was reached. Autopsies in Ceuta found many deaths consistent with drowning. For comparison, 15 people died at Tarajal in 2014, and at least 23 at Melilla in 2022, by the official count. ### What followed, up to 27 September - 1 August Spain installs a floating barrier of about 500 metres on the sea border. Italy reintroduces checks on non-EU travellers arriving from Spain, and France tightens its border checks. Twenty-two heads of state and government, on an Italian and Danish initiative, call for an urgent meeting and for action on “pull factors”, among them the regularisation of very large numbers of undocumented migrants. - 4 August EU interior ministers meet by informal video conference. The Irish Presidency voices support for Spain. - 10–11 August Morocco’s justice minister, Abdellatif Ouahbi: “we continue to claim our territories”, and the issue is raised at every meeting with Spain. - 15 August Another mass crossing, announced on social media, is stopped this time by Moroccan police. - 21 August On Moroccan television, Ouahbi calls for a “dialogue commission” with Spain on the two cities’ “return”. Madrid answers with a “categorical rejection” and summons Morocco’s envoy: Ceuta and Melilla are “an integral part of EU territory”. - 25 August The government declares the situation in Ceuta a matter of national-security concern, under a single command. More than 90% of those who entered had already returned to Morocco. €25 million is allocated for unaccompanied minors. - 28 August Spain asks for ten more Frontex officers and for support from Europol and the EU Asylum Agency, to identify those still in the city. - 3 September The day before, tens of thousands of Spaniards had protested against the government’s handling of the crisis. Sánchez, in parliament: the cities will stay Spanish “until the end of time”, and the government has “no solid evidence” that Morocco planned the crossing, though Moroccan police “allowed the border to be crossed”. He asks for Ceuta and Melilla to join the EU customs union and to be recognised as outermost regions. Since 10 August, 3,300 people had been moved elsewhere in Spain and 3,658 sent back. - September The reciprocal checks continue: Italy has extended its checks at air and sea borders with Spain to 1 October, and Spain its own towards Italy to 7 October. - 21 September Youth minister Sira Rego says most unaccompanied minors still in Ceuta will stay in Spain, because the law protects them, and that Morocco cooperates poorly on their cases. - 22 September In New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Spain’s foreign minister José Manuel Albares calls the idea of co-sovereignty “nonsense” and says Spain will “never” discuss Ceuta and Melilla with Morocco. - 23 September Morocco’s legislative election day. Social media carries calls for another crossing. The border stays calm, guarded on both sides. Albares says Morocco has guaranteed it will help prevent another mass crossing, and that Spain’s king will visit Ceuta “within weeks”. ### What the summer of 2026 changes for the “colony” question For sovereignty, nothing yet: no treaty, ruling or UN list has changed, and Spain’s request to bring Ceuta into the EU customs union is only a proposal. Politically, two things are clearer. Morocco restates its claim at the highest level. Spain answers more sharply than ever, with a diplomatic summons Albares called unprecedented in Spanish democracy. And the crisis has spread beyond the city: Italy and Austria cite Ceuta in the notifications by which they keep checks at their own borders inside Schengen. ## What can Spain prove, and what can Morocco prove? Each side has real arguments. Each argument stops somewhere. ### Spain’s best case ### What the evidence supports - In 1668 Portugal recognised that Ceuta stayed with the Spanish crown. - Spain and Morocco later signed treaties defining and enlarging the city’s perimeter. - Spain has administered the city without a break for nearly four centuries. - Ceuta is constitutionally integrated and its residents have full political rights. - The UN does not put Ceuta on its list of territories to decolonise. ### Where it stops - It does not erase the fact that European rule began with a conquest. - A national constitution cannot settle an international dispute on its own. - Long control is not acceptance while Morocco keeps objecting. ### Morocco’s best case ### What the evidence supports - Ceuta is a city held by a European power on the North African coast, acquired by conquest. - It was not handed over when the protectorates in Morocco ended in 1956. - Morocco has consistently framed the question as territorial integrity and unfinished decolonisation. - The nineteenth-century treaties were signed after a lost war, which complicates the idea of free agreement. ### Where it stops - Geographical proximity is not, by itself, a legal title. - The modern Moroccan state is not automatically the successor of every dynasty that once held the city. - The claim must reckon with centuries of treaties, administration and the rights of today’s residents. - The UN has not classified Ceuta as a Non-Self-Governing Territory. ### The people who live there are not scenery Any change of sovereignty would change the citizenship, rights and government of its 83,595 residents. Their wishes matter politically and morally. Whether they are legally decisive is a harder question, because decolonisation disputes disagree about which “people” decides. ## Common claims, checked “Ceuta is in Africa, so it belongs to Morocco.” Misleading Geography explains why the claim feels intuitive, but it does not create title. If continental continuity were decisive, many islands, enclaves and treaty borders would become unstable. “Ceuta has been Spanish for longer than Morocco has existed.” Misleading Morocco has been independent since 1956, but the Moroccan sultanate is older than Spanish rule over the city: the Alawite dynasty, which still reigns, besieged Ceuta from 1694 to 1727. The comparison sets a modern state against an old monarchy. “Ceuta is a colony because it was taken by conquest.” Incomplete Conquest explains the origin. Today’s status also depends on later treaties, administration, recognition and the rights of residents. “The residents want to stay Spanish, so the matter is closed.” Important, not decisive The residents' will is essential politically and morally. In decolonisation law, though, who counts as the deciding “people” is disputed, and Gibraltar, whose residents want to remain British, is still on the UN list. “The UN has ruled that Ceuta is Spanish.” False The UN has issued no ruling on sovereignty. The city’s absence from the decolonisation list is an institutional fact, not a verdict. “The 2026 crisis changed the city’s status.” False No treaty, law or international list has changed. Spain has only asked for the city to join the EU customs union, which would tie it more closely to the Union. What changed is the diplomatic tone and the checks at the EU’s internal borders. “If Ceuta is illegitimate, so is Istanbul.” Incomplete Both have a medieval conquest in their history. The difference is that Greece does not claim Istanbul, and most of Turkey’s borders were fixed by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. ## Gibraltar, Western Sahara, Hong Kong, Goa: what is alike and what differs? Case Like Ceuta Unlike Ceuta Gibraltar Territory held by a European power at the same strait, claimed by a neighbour. It is on the UN decolonisation list, and the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht gives Spain first refusal should Britain ever give it up. Western Sahara Morocco frames both as territorial integrity. It is on the UN list, and the International Court of Justice said in 1975 that historical ties do not displace self-determination. Hong Kong Long European control that began with unequal arrangements. Britain and China negotiated a transfer, registered at the UN, for 1997. Spain refuses any talks with Morocco about Ceuta’s sovereignty. Goa A centuries-old Portuguese enclave called unfinished decolonisation by its neighbour. India took it by force in December 1961. Portugal and several Security Council members called this a breach of the UN Charter; India answered that it was ending colonial rule. ## Why history alone does not settle a border International law keeps many borders drawn under coercion, yet refuses to legalise new conquests. The tension is deliberate. ### An old conquest is not judged only by today’s law An act is judged first by the law of its time. Then later treaties, recognition and administration count. That is why 1415 is central to the history but not the whole legal analysis. ### A new conquest cannot create title Since 1945, territory taken by force cannot be recognised as lawful. That makes a medieval conquest and a twenty-first-century one very different legal problems. ### Treaties change the chain Ceuta passed from Portuguese conquest to the Spanish crown through a dynastic union, a separation and a treaty. A claim today cannot skip those steps. ### Self-determination matters, but does not apply itself The hard question is whether today’s residents are the “people” who decide, or whether decolonisation is owed to a larger territorial unit. Different disputes have been answered differently. Colonial history is not the same thing as colonial status. Ceuta’s origin is colonial. Its institutions today lack the marks of a colony: residents elect their local assembly and their members of the Spanish parliament. Spain rests on treaties and centuries of administration. Morocco has a real and constant claim, which the summer of 2026 brought back to the highest political level. The dispute survives because these truths do not cancel each other out. ## Sources Legal texts and institutional documents come first. Reporting on 2026 is current to 27 September 2026. - 1 [Ceuta](https://www.britannica.com/place/Ceuta) Encyclopaedia Britannica · rev. 23 Sep 2026 · History Short history: Portugal from 1415, the Spanish crown from 1580, Franco's 1936 expedition, the 1995 statute. - 2 [136 años antes de que naciera Estados Unidos, Ceuta ya era española](https://confilegal.com/20260801-historia-ceuta-portuguesa-espanola-fidelidad-felipe-iv/) Confilegal (Carlos Berbell) · 1 Aug 2026 · History The conquest of 21 August 1415, the 1640 oath to Philip IV (no plebiscite), the 1694–1727 siege and Article 2 of the Treaty of Lisbon. - 3 [Ley Orgánica 1/1995, Estatuto de Autonomía de Ceuta](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1995-6358) Boletín Oficial del Estado · 13 Mar 1995 · Status Autonomous-city statute: its own assembly, self-government, Ceuta an integral part of the Spanish nation. - 4 [Constitución Española, artículos 68.2 y 69.4](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1978-31229) Boletín Oficial del Estado · 1978 · Status Ceuta elects one deputy and two senators. - 5 [List of Non-Self-Governing Territories](https://www.un.org/dppa/decolonization/en/nsgt) United Nations, Decolonization Unit · consulted 27 Sep 2026 · Status 17 territories, including Western Sahara and Gibraltar. Ceuta and Melilla do not appear. - 6 [UNCLOS: declarations by Morocco and Spain on Sebta / Ceuta](https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetailsIII.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXI-6&chapter=21&Temp=mtdsg3&clang=_en) UN Treaty Collection · 2007–2008 · Status Opposing declarations lodged at the UN: Morocco calls Sebta Moroccan territory, Spain asserts full sovereignty. - 7 [El ministro de Justicia de Marruecos, sobre Ceuta y Melilla: «Seguimos reivindicando nuestros territorios»](https://www.infobae.com/espana/2026/08/11/el-ministro-de-justicia-de-marruecos-sobre-ceuta-y-melilla-cada-vez-que-nos-reunimos-con-espana-planteamos-la-cuestion-seguimos-reivindicando-nuestros-territorios/) Infobae · 11 Aug 2026 · 2026 Morocco's justice minister, Abdellatif Ouahbi: the issue is raised at every meeting with Spain. - 8 [Ceuta](https://eve.fcsh.unl.pt/en/places/ceuta) Encyclopedia of European Expansion, NOVA University Lisbon · reference entry · History Academic entry: the Portuguese conquest, the Iberian Union and the 1668 settlement. - 9 [El asedio de Ceuta (1694–1727)](https://www.ceutaturismo.com/ceuta-secreta-detalle.php?s=asedio-ceuta-1694-1727) Ceuta Turismo · reference entry · History The siege came in phases, with a break between 1720 and 1721. - 10 [Debate reproducing the 1860 Treaty of Tetuan](https://legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ha/dicc/A%20PV%20945.pdf) United Nations, General Assembly record A/PV.945 · 1960 · History The 1860 treaty text in which Morocco cedes territory around Ceuta to Spain. - 11 [Moroccan statements on Ceuta, Melilla and decolonisation (A/C.4/SR.1005)](https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/810274/files/A_C.4_SR.1005-EN.pdf) UN General Assembly, Fourth Committee · 1960s · Status Morocco presents Ceuta and Melilla as unfinished decolonisation. - 12 [The Government of Spain steps up coordination of measures to restore normality in Ceuta](https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/lang/en/gobierno/councilministers/Paginas/2026/20260825-council-press-conference.aspx) La Moncloa · 25 Aug 2026 · 2026 More than 70,000 people in Ceuta on 30 and 31 July; over 90% returned to Morocco; a situation of national-security concern; €25 million for minors. - 13 [Padrón: Ceuta, población por sexo (table 2908)](https://www.ine.es/jaxiT3/Tabla.htm?t=2908&L=0) Instituto Nacional de Estadística · 1 Jan 2025 · Status 83,595 registered residents on 1 January 2025. - 14 [Customs territory of the Union](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2013/952/article/4/adopted) EU Regulation 952/2013 (Union Customs Code), Article 4 · 2013 · Status The EU customs territory covers Spain "except Ceuta and Melilla". - 15 [La aduana de Ceuta abre de forma oficial; 49 importaciones y 2 exportaciones en 2025](https://elmercantil.com/2025/02/13/la-aduana-de-ceuta-abre-de-forma-oficial-con-dos-operaciones-import-export-diarias/) El Mercantil / El Pueblo de Ceuta · 13 Feb 2025; Jan 2026 · Status The first commercial customs post with Morocco, opened in February 2025 with one operation a day each way. - 16 [La aduana de Ceuta con Marruecos registra 49 importaciones y solo 2 exportaciones en 2025](https://www.elpueblodeceuta.es/sec/economia/aduana-ceuta-marruecos-registra-49_1_1153004.html) El Pueblo de Ceuta · Jan 2026 · Status The first year of the commercial customs post. - 17 [Ceuta, Melilla and the integrity of the Schengen Area](https://www.exteriores.gob.es/en/Comunicacion/Exteriores-explica/Paginas/2026_Articulos/Ceuta,-Melilla.aspx) Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores de España · 2026 · Status The special 1991 regime, kept by Article 41 of the Schengen Borders Code; checks on departure for the mainland. - 18 [The North Atlantic Treaty, Article 6](https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_17120.htm) NATO · 4 Apr 1949 · Status The collective-defence guarantee covers allies' territory "in Europe or North America" and islands north of the Tropic of Cancer. - 19 [Ceuta migrant disaster death toll rises to 141](https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/ceuta-migrant-disaster-death-toll-rises-morocco-deadliest-recent-history) Middle East Eye · 5 Aug 2026 · 2026 78 bodies in Spanish waters (Spanish officials, to Cadena SER), 63 in hospitals in northern Morocco (Caminando Fronteras); Morocco has not confirmed. - 20 [Albares ve un «disparate» la cosoberanía de Ceuta y Melilla y asegura que «jamás» habrá diálogo con Marruecos sobre ello](https://www.infobae.com/america/agencias/2026/09/22/albares-ve-un-disparate-la-cosoberania-de-ceuta-y-melilla-y-asegura-que-jamas-habra-dialogo-con-marruecos-sobre-ello/) Infobae / Europa Press · 22 Sep 2026 · 2026 Spain's foreign minister, in New York; the summons of Morocco's envoy on 21 August. - 21 [Around 60,000 migrants cross into Spain's Ceuta exclave from Morocco](https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260731-almost-50-000-migrants-crossed-morocco-ceuta-border-over-past-24-hours) France 24 · 31 Jul 2026 · 2026 First estimates, and the comparison with May 2021, when more than 10,000 people reached Ceuta in two days. - 22 [What really happened in Ceuta? Why we may never find out](https://www.npr.org/2026/08/16/nx-s1-5927053/what-happened-in-ceuta) NPR · 16 Aug 2026 · 2026 The 15 August attempt, stopped by Moroccan police; El País's estimate of at least 8,000 people still there. - 23 [El Tribunal Supremo confirma que la ley no permite las devoluciones en caliente de los migrantes que pretenden entrar a nado en Ceuta y Melilla](https://www.poderjudicial.es/cgpj/es/Poder-Judicial/Noticias-Judiciales/El-Tribunal-Supremo-confirma-que-la-ley-no-permite-las--devoluciones-en-caliente--de-los-migrantes-que-pretenden-entrar-a-nado-en-Ceuta-y-Melilla) Consejo General del Poder Judicial · 29 Jun 2026 · 2026 Ruling 814/2026: people who swim in go through an individual return procedure, with safeguards. - 24 [Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez struggles to answer lawmaker questions about Ceuta crisis](https://apnews.com/article/spain-morocco-ceuta-sanchez-migration-european-union-7551501fb2dbf9e29885af93b4eca6d1) Associated Press · 3 Sep 2026 · 2026 Latest official toll: 96 dead in Spain and Morocco; Sánchez's 141, unexplained; the 2 September protests. - 25 [España acelera la identificación de los migrantes muertos en Ceuta](https://www.ambito.com/mundo/espana-acelera-la-identificacion-los-migrantes-muertos-ceuta-mientras-la-cifra-victimas-asciende-141-n6308388) Ámbito (Reuters) · 7 Aug 2026 · 2026 Autopsies: many deaths by cardiorespiratory arrest consistent with drowning; forensic teams sent to Ceuta. - 26 [Spain installs floating barrier off Ceuta after deadly migrant crossings](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/1/spain-says-migrants-leaving-ceuta-after-mass-influx-in-which-67-died) Al Jazeera · 1 Aug 2026 · 2026 The floating barrier of about 500 metres on the sea border. - 27 [Italy temporarily reintroduces border controls with Spain](https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/07/31/italy-suspends-schengen-with-spain-over-ceuta-migrant-crisis-shuts-air-and-sea-borders) Euronews · 31 Jul 2026 · 2026 Italy reintroduces checks on arrivals from Spain; France tightens its land-border checks. - 28 [Italy and Denmark put forward letter to EU leaders, signed by 22 Heads of State and Government](https://www.governo.it/en/articolo/italy-and-denmark-put-forward-letter-eu-leaders-signed-22-heads-state-and-government/32446) Governo Italiano · 1 Aug 2026 · 2026 The letter asks for an extraordinary video conference of interior ministers and names mass regularisation a pull factor. - 29 [Results of the informal video conference of Home Affairs Ministers](https://irish-presidency.consilium.europa.eu/en/news/results-of-the-informal-video-conference-of-home-affairs-ministers-4-august-2026/) Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU · 4 Aug 2026 · 2026 The informal video conference of interior ministers: support for Spain, preparing the October European Council. - 30 [España traslada a Marruecos su rechazo «tajante» a las pretensiones sobre Ceuta y Melilla](https://efe.com/espana/2026-08-22/espana-rechazo-tajante-pretensiones-marruecos-territorio-ceuta-melilla/) EFE · 22 Aug 2026 · 2026 Ouahbi calls for a dialogue commission; Spain's foreign ministry answers with a categorical rejection. - 31 [Spain asks the EU for Frontex support for the migrant screening process in Ceuta](https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/lang/en/gobierno/news/Paginas/2026/20260828-frontex-support-ceuta.aspx) La Moncloa · 28 Aug 2026 · 2026 Spain asks for ten more Frontex officers and support from Europol and the EU Asylum Agency. - 32 [Appearance of the President of the Government before the Congress on Ceuta](https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/lang/en/presidente/intervenciones/Paginas/2026/20260903-appearance-ceuta-statement.aspx) La Moncloa · 3 Sep 2026 · 2026 Sánchez: about 70,000 entries, no solid evidence of a Moroccan plan, the request for customs-union and outermost-region status. - 33 [Temporary reintroduction of border control: current notifications](https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/schengen/schengen-area/temporary-reintroduction-border-control_en) European Commission, Migration and Home Affairs · consulted 27 Sep 2026 · 2026 Italy: checks at air and sea borders with Spain, 16 September–1 October 2026. Spain: the same with Italy, 23 September–7 October 2026. - 34 [Most of Ceuta's 2,000 unaccompanied minors will not return to Morocco, Spain says](https://www.euronews.com/2026/09/21/most-of-ceutas-2000-unaccompanied-minors-will-not-return-to-morocco-spain-says) Euronews · 21 Sep 2026 · 2026 Minister Sira Rego's statement, not yet confirmed by the interior minister. - 35 [La frontera con Ceuta amanece blindada y en calma el día de las elecciones en Marruecos](https://www.infobae.com/america/agencias/2026/09/23/la-frontera-con-ceuta-amanece-blindada-y-en-calma-el-dia-de-las-elecciones-en-marruecos/) Infobae / EFE · 23 Sep 2026 · 2026 Morocco's election day: calls for another mass crossing, a calm border. - 36 [Marruecos garantiza a España que colaborará para impedir una nueva entrada de migrantes](https://efe.com/espana/2026-09-23/marruecos-garantiza-espana-colaborara-impedir-nueva-entrada-migrantes/) EFE · 23 Sep 2026 · 2026 Albares on SER radio: Morocco's guarantee and the king's visit to Ceuta "within weeks". - 37 [Western Sahara, advisory opinion](https://www.icj-cij.org/case/61) International Court of Justice · 16 Oct 1975 · Comparisons Historical ties do not displace the territory's people's self-determination. - 38 [Frontier Dispute (Burkina Faso / Mali)](https://www.icj-cij.org/case/69) International Court of Justice · 22 Dec 1986 · Law Borders inherited from colonial rule are kept at independence (uti possidetis). - 39 [Island of Palmas arbitration](https://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_ii/829-871.pdf) UN Reports of International Arbitral Awards · 1928 · Law Intertemporal law: an act is judged by the law of its time, and title must then be maintained. - 40 [Gibraltar: positions on sovereignty and self-determination (A/61/710)](https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/591833/files/A_61_710-EN.pdf) United Nations · 2007 · Comparisons The positions of the UK, Spain and Gibraltar. - 41 [Treaty of Peace with Turkey (Lausanne)](https://treaties.fcdo.gov.uk/data/Library2/pdf/TS0016.1923.pdf) UK Treaties Online · 24 Jul 1923 · Comparisons The treaty that fixed modern Turkey's borders. - 42 [Treaty of Utrecht, Article X (Gibraltar)](https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/utrecht.asp) Avalon Project, Yale Law School · 1713 · Comparisons The clause giving Spain first refusal should Britain give up Gibraltar. - 43 [Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong](https://treaties.un.org/Pages/showDetails.aspx?objid=08000002800d4d6e) UN Treaty Series · 19 Dec 1984 · Comparisons A bilateral, registered transfer, for 1997. - 44 [Questions concerning Goa, Damão and Diu](https://cdn.un.org/unyearbook/yun/pdf/1961/1961_140.pdf) UN Yearbook 1961 · 1961 · Comparisons India takes the Portuguese enclaves by force in December 1961. - 45 [UN Charter, Article 2(4)](https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/chapter-1) United Nations · 1945 · Law The ban on force against a state's territorial integrity. - 46 [Friendly Relations Declaration, Resolution 2625 (XXV)](https://treaties.un.org/doc/source/docs/A_RES_2625-Eng.pdf) UN General Assembly · 24 Oct 1970 · Law No territorial acquisition by force shall be recognised as legal. Canonical: https://mariuscomper.uk/ceuta/en/