The chief prosecutor of Ceuta warns: "There is almost one sexual assault per day and the city is on the brink of collapse."

In Spain, the competencies of a chief prosecutor in an autonomous city like Ceuta are mainly determined by the Organic Statute of the Public Prosecutor's Office (EOMF) and by the territorial organization of the Prosecutor's Career. Although Ceuta is not an autonomous community, it has its own Prosecutor's Office (usually configured as an Area Prosecutor's Office), headed by a chief prosecutor who exercises management, coordination, and representation functions of the Public Prosecutor's Office in that territory.

Firstly, the chief prosecutor is the highest authority of the Public Prosecutor's Office in the territorial scope of Ceuta. This implies directing the actions of the prosecutors assigned there, ensuring compliance with the principles of legality, unity of action, and impartiality, and guaranteeing that the instructions of the State Attorney General and higher-ranking prosecutors (Chamber Prosecutor, Superior Prosecutor of the relevant autonomous community, etc.) are correctly applied in the cases processed in the city.

On the internal organizational level, the chief prosecutor has competencies of management and work distribution. Among others:

• Assigning the different criminal, civil, contentious-administrative, and social matters to the prosecutors of the area, according to specialization criteria and workload.
• Organizing the on-call services, shifts for detainee assistance, and the presence of the Public Prosecutor's Office in hearings and trials.
• Ensuring compliance with procedural deadlines, proper preparation of documents and appeals, and attendance at appearances scheduled by the courts and tribunals of Ceuta.
• Promoting common action criteria in sensitive matters (gender violence, minors, immigration, hate crimes, organized crime, etc.).

Regarding external functions, the chief prosecutor exercises the institutional representation of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Ceuta. This includes:

• Being the main interlocutor with the judicial bodies of the city (investigative courts, criminal courts, contentious-administrative courts, social courts, juvenile courts, courts for violence against women, if applicable).
• Interacting with the security forces and bodies (National Police, Civil Guard, Local Police), coordinating criteria on reports, arrests, victim protection, and crime prosecution.
• Maintaining contact with other relevant institutions: Government Delegation, Autonomous City of Ceuta, social services, penitentiary institutions, child protection agencies, victim assistance offices, etc.
• Participating in collegiate bodies or local working groups where the presence of the Public Prosecutor's Office is necessary (for example, coordination tables against gender violence or human trafficking).

From a strictly legal perspective, the chief prosecutor does not have different competencies regarding the substance of cases compared to other prosecutors, since all act subject to the law and the principle of unity. However, they do have powers of:

• Promotion and supervision of the Public Prosecutor's Office's actions in specific procedures, being able to personally take on cases of special relevance, complexity, or social impact.
• Proposal of action criteria to the superior body (usually, the Superior Prosecutor of the autonomous community on which the territory depends, and ultimately, the State Attorney General) when specific problems are detected in Ceuta: cross-border crime, irregular immigration, crimes in the port environment, etc.
• Disciplinary and internal functioning control, reporting incidents to the Superior Prosecutor if applicable or proposing organizational measures to improve the service.

Likewise, the chief prosecutor has powers related to team cohesion and training: promoting the specialization of prosecutors in specific areas (minors, gender violence, immigration), proposing courses or training sessions, and encouraging homogeneous action that reduces disparities in criteria among prosecutors assigned to the same post.

A relevant feature in an autonomous city like Ceuta is the particular geographic and social context: external border of the European Union, high cultural and religious diversity, presence of realities such as irregular immigration or smuggling. The general regulations do not create “special” competencies for being Ceuta, but the chief prosecutor must adapt the organization and priorities of the Prosecutor's Office to that context, conveying the specific needs of the territory to the Public Prosecutor's Office as a whole and promoting collaboration agreements with other operators.

In summary, the chief prosecutor in Ceuta concentrates functions of management, coordination, supervision, and representation of the Public Prosecutor's Office in the territorial scope of the autonomous city. They do not issue their own rules nor decide the State's criminal policy, but they are a key figure to apply general guidelines in the territory, guarantee the correct performance of prosecutors, and ensure a homogeneous, effective, and respectful response to fundamental rights in the conflicts that are judicialized in Ceuta.

In Ceuta, specialized resources for victims of sexual violence are framed within the state framework of Organic Law 10/2022, on comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom, and the state agreement on accreditation of sexual violence of November 17, 2025. On this basis, the city has a 24-hour Crisis Center and other reception and protection devices activated during the current migratory crisis.

According to the consulted state regulations, there is no specific regulation unique to Ceuta that particularly restricts access to these resources; the common criteria approved for all autonomous communities and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla apply.

1. Legal framework and accreditation of victim status

Organic Law 10/2022, on comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom, establishes the right to comprehensive, immediate, and specialized care for victims of sexual violence throughout the State territory (text of Organic Law 10/2022).

The basic procedure for accrediting situations of sexual violence was agreed upon at the Sectoral Equality Conference on November 17, 2025, with the express participation of Ceuta and Melilla, and published by Resolution of December 10, 2025 (resolution and agreement). According to this agreement:

• Women, girls, boys, and adolescents victims of all forms of sexual violence, or their legal representatives, may request accreditation.
• No prior complaint is required: victims who have not filed a complaint, with archived procedures, acquittal sentences, denied or inactive protection orders, etc., can be accredited.
• Conviction sentences, protection orders, or judicial resolutions recognizing sexual violence, as well as reports from the Public Prosecutor's Office, also serve as enabling titles.
• The administrative accreditation generally has a validity of five years, renewable.

This accreditation has effects throughout the State and allows access to rights, resources, and benefits, including specific economic aids regulated under Organic Law 10/2022. For these aids, the Ministry of Equality has specified that two basic requirements are demanded: accrediting the status of victim of sexual violence and accrediting insufficient economic resources (Equality note 07/16/2024).

2. Specialized resources in Ceuta

According to recent official information from the Ministry of Equality and analysis from the newspaper Demócrata, in Ceuta stand out, among others:

• 24-hour Crisis Center for victims of sexual violence, with 14 short-stay residential places, conceived as a specific resource for immediate psychological, social, and legal intervention. During the migratory crisis, nine minors victims of sexual assaults have been housed in this center, and the Ministry has requested extending stays beyond the usual 72 hours when no safe alternative exists (statement by Ana Redondo, 08/31/2026 and report in Demócrata).
• Reception device “La Hípica”, with about 320 places for women in vulnerable situations, managed by Sur Acoge, where priority is given to women without secure accommodation, with indications of sexual violence, trafficking or exploitation, and with special attention to pregnant women or those with minors in their care.
• Violet points and itinerant prevention service against sexual violence, which move to reception centers and other city spaces for detection, information, referral to resources, and accompaniment.
• Coordination Unit against Violence against Women of Ceuta, in the Government Delegation, which coordinates with social services, health, security forces, courts, and social entities individualized referrals and case follow-up.

3. Practical access requirements

Based on the state legal framework and available information, the access requirements and conditions can be summarized as follows:

• Prior complaint: to access emergency care and the 24h Crisis Center, a prior complaint is generally not required. This is inferred from the common model of crisis centers described by Equality for the entire State (immediate care, 24 hours, without complaint condition).
• Age: care is provided to adult women and minors victims of sexual violence. In Ceuta, minors are housed in the 24h Crisis Center; the child protection system and the Prosecutor's Office coordinate their referral and guardianship.
• Registration: crisis centers and the protection network against sexual violence are universal public services. In the context of Ceuta, both resident women and newly arrived migrant women are being attended; prior registration is not required for emergency care.
• Administrative status: the state model and Equality notes emphasize care for migrant women, applicants for international protection, and those in irregular administrative situations. In practice, administrative status is not an obstacle for immediate care and protection.
• Entry or referral route: access can be through multiple doors:
  • Phone 016 (information, legal advice, and psychosocial support 24h).
  • Health services (emergency, health centers), which activate referral protocols.
  • Security Forces and Bodies (UFAM, National Police, Civil Guard).
  • Social services of the Autonomous City, social entities, and violet points.
  • Coordination Unit against Violence against Women and resources managed by Equality.

In summary, in Ceuta access to specialized resources for victims of sexual violence is governed by the principle of immediate accessibility, gratuity, confidentiality, and no requirement of prior complaint, with priority for women and minors in situations of special vulnerability, regardless of their nationality or administrative status, and with a common accreditation procedure that facilitates access to aid, safe accommodations, and specialized support.

In recent years, autonomous communities have responded to migratory crises—especially the massive arrival of people and unaccompanied minors to the Canary Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla—with a range of measures combining reception, resource reinforcement, coordination with the State, and, in many cases, political and legal opposition to the new state redistribution model.

Although the framework is set by the State (reform of the Immigration Law, Royal Decree-Law 2/2025, and the royal decrees of “ordinary capacity” and contingency), the autonomous communities have made their own decisions that allow identifying common patterns.

1. Participation in the new system for distributing minors

The core of recent crises lies in the reception of unaccompanied migrant minors. The Government has approved a legislative modification for a structural distribution system and a mechanism of extraordinary migratory contingency, which is activated when a territory triples its ordinary reception capacity (defined in the BOE for each community, with a total of 17,081 places, for example 3,009 in Andalusia, 2,829 in Catalonia, 2,471 in Madrid, or 1,903 in the Valencian Community). Based on this, several autonomous responses are articulated:

• Historical receiving communities (Galicia, for example) have recalled their reception trajectory beyond what would correspond to them by population, defending the principle of solidarity but demanding sufficient funding for new transfers (Xunta note).
• Communities governed by PP and Vox (Extremadura, Andalusia, some others) have flatly rejected any “mandatory” distribution of immigrants or closed criteria from the State, placing the defense of their competencies as a red line and linking the debate to government agreements with Vox.
• Canary Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla, as border territories, have supported the reform because it allows them to declare extraordinary migratory contingency and activate forced transfers when they exceed 150% of their capacity; in practice, this has already resulted in hundreds of transfer files processed by the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands to other autonomous communities.

2. Contingency declarations, emergency funds, and expansion of places

Several autonomous responses have relied on emergency declarations and resource reinforcement:

• The Minister of Youth and Childhood has declared the extraordinary migratory contingency in the Canary Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla, which activates the transfer protocol and obliges the rest of the autonomous communities to assume minors according to objective criteria (population, income, unemployment, prior effort, insularity, etc.) (Moncloa note).
• The State has expanded the emergency declaration in immigration matters initially linked to the Canary Islands and has allocated a contingency fund exceeding 110 million to sustain emergency places and new arrivals, which impacts the autonomous reception devices (Finance Ministry).
• Meanwhile, the state asylum system (SAPI) has increased in ten years from about 2,000 to more than 34,000 places, with strong presence in Andalusia, Madrid, and Catalonia, which de facto increases the autonomous capacity to absorb transfers (Inclusion data).

3. Political and legal reaction of the autonomous communities

Faced with the new distribution model, many communities have reacted in terms of competence conflict:

• Autonomous communities such as Castile and León, Extremadura, Balearic Islands, or Murcia have announced or filed constitutional challenges or contentious appeals against state distribution norms and against transfer agreements from the Canary Islands, alleging competence invasion and lack of funding.
• Balearic Islands have openly criticized the bilateral State–Canary Islands agreements that do not go through the entire Sectoral Conference, accusing the Ministry of “disregarding” the rest of the communities (Balearic Government note).
• The central Government, in turn, has challenged provisions of the Canary Islands Government on unaccompanied minors when considered contrary to the state framework (2024 challenge), revealing a cross legal struggle.

4. Multilateral coordination and “best practices”

Cooperative dynamics have also occurred:

• Canary Islands have articulated an “unprecedented front” with councils, municipalities, political forces (except Vox), and social entities to support a reform of the Immigration Law that guarantees equitable distribution of minors, insisting on state and autonomous co-responsibility (Canary Islands Government).
• In the field of refugees and asylum seekers, Basque Country, Valencian Community, and Navarre participate in community sponsorship programs, where reception and integration are carried out jointly between administrations and civil society, highlighted by the Government as an example of a sustainable cooperative model.
• In the Sectoral Conferences on Childhood and Migration, common redistribution criteria and specific funding packages for receiving autonomous communities have been negotiated (such as the 22 million for Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla mentioned in the press), although with strong disagreements among autonomous governments.

Overall, the autonomous measures in response to recent migratory crises range between cooperation (reinforced reception programs, participation in transfers, involvement in SAPI or community sponsorship) and confrontation (legal challenges, rejection of mandatory quotas, complaints about lack of planning and funding), always within a state framework that tries to stabilize the distribution of responsibilities among territories.