With the help of European funds, the Spanish government built the first Ceuta wall in 1995.
Today, 4 walls are protecting the Schengen territory.
1995 : Morocco/Melilla (Spain).
1995 : Morocco/Ceuta (Spain).
2011 : Greece/Turkey.
2013 : Bulgaria/Turkey.

Countries located on the margins of the Schengen area have slowly but surely reinforced their border for the past 5 years due to the political instability of their neighboring countries.The most recent on-going project is being conducted by Bulgaria on its border with Turkey.

41 separation walls have been built so far. Some of them have been built on the border between 2 countries. Others within disputed territories. On a smaller scale, more and more walls are also being built around privileged communities. We call them « gated communities ». Including or excluding, all these walls separate and stand as cold physical realities between people.

This sentence comes from the metaphorical poem « Mending wall », written by the American poet Robert Frost, and published in 1914. According to Frost, men continue to need marked boundaries, even when they find it difficult to justify their existence. The saying "Good fences make good neighbors" can be traced to the Spanish, "Una pared entre dos vecinos guarda más (hace durar) la amistad," which goes back at least to the Middle Ages.

The idea of building a wall to keep someone out is not a new phenomenon. But since the attacks on 9/11, walls have been a predominant security answer to global challenges such as terrorism, immigration or poverty.

Ceuta is a smugglers paradise and a transit point for all kinds of contraband. Every day, the ritual is the same. These so-called local "mule women", who have day permits, cross the border between Morocco and Spain, carrying bags on their backs weighing up to 175 lbs. More women than men are used to performing these tasks as they seem to be less likely to be aprehended. Contraband between the two Spanish enclaves and Morocco represent between 40 and 50% of Ceuta and Melilla's GDPs.

Yes, in Ceuta, the so-called “Sirga” system has not been built. In Melilla, the metal barrier was strengthened by the three-dimensional sirga (“rope”) system, a tangle of thick metal cables, installed in a cross-linked fashion between the Moroccan side of the barrier and a third barrier in the middle of the wall.

When a migrant is able to pass the first barrier, he is formally inside the Spanish territory and therefore can’t be brought back to Morocco. He has the right to have a lawyer and a translator, he can apply for asylum and can’t be deported to a country where his life is endangered.

The number of Spaniards officially registered as residents in Morocco quadrupled between 2003 and 2013. Indeed, for lots of them, moving to Morocco has become a better opportunity for employment. Spaniards do not need a visa to enter Morocco for a stay of up to three months, and only need to step on Spanish soil – which includes Spanish enclaves in Morocco, such as Ceuta and Melilla – to get their passport stamped and to stay legally in Morocco.

If the reinforcement of the Ceuta fence initially stopped the migration through that enclave for a while, it soon resumed. Since 2012, Subsaharians are jumping over the fence in large numbers and Maghrebians are hiding in cars to cross among the daily commuters between Morocco and the Spanish enclave.