Many living in poverty-stricken Africa see Europe as their only hope for a better life, and often risk their lives to make it northward. Immigrants cling to inner tubes or old boats and try to make it across the short but hazardous straits of Gibraltar between Morocco and Spain. Next, they must cross the double barbed-wire fence that divides Morocco and the Spanish territories of Ceuta and Melilla, a boundary that will be made twice as high by February in response to a recent wave of immigration.

Human rights groups like Amnesty International worry that the Spanish and Moroccan governments’ efforts to detain the thousands of Africans that attempt to cross each week have gone too far.

Enrique Santiago, leader of the Spanish organization CEAR that works with refugees, says the Spanish and Moroccan governments are ignoring international human rights accords.

Spain has expelled large numbers of illegal immigrants to Morocco, regardless of their nationalities. Until recently, the immigrants were detained in holding centers, then released to their country of origin. According to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), many are now “abandoned to their fate” hundreds of miles from the holding centers without food, water, or medical care.

Those who are detained in the encampments face overcrowding; the Ceti in Melilla was built for 480 but houses approximately 1,150 people. Police brutality has also been reported.

“They are not delinquents, they are not committing a crime,” Santiago said. “They are trying to abandon their misery and get to countries which supposedly have better living conditions.”

The heightened fence, he added, will only contribute to the tragedy. “The only thing this has done is cause two deaths caused by falling six meters. The risk increases, but this is not going to stop the crossings.”

In a BBC report, Xavier Casero, a doctor who works with MSF, explained that the majority of patients are wounded and traumatized from trying to jump the fence into Melilla.

“The last man I treated was 24 years old, from Mali,” said Casero. “This man had a very bad head wound, after a Moroccan soldier had hit him in the head. It was an open wound, and when I arrived in the forest it was eight hours after he’d been injured, and he was bleeding badly.”

Casero described the living conditions near the border as filthy and overcrowded. He reported that many women give birth in the forest without medical attention.

“About 10 percent of the immigrants are women, and around a quarter of these women are pregnant,” he said. “Another quarter have small babies.”

Most immigrants refuse to go to Moroccan hospitals to receive medical care for fear of the police, but even the most serious cases brought to the hospital by MSF are subject to discrimination. The hospitals often force MSF to pay for medicine dispensed freely to Moroccan patients.

On Oct. 26 in Madrid, Amnesty International presented their findings from a 10-day investigation in the Spanish territories. Amnesty reported 11 deaths and hundreds of injuries during the 10-day period.

“The tragic, illegal, cruel, and inhumane game of ping pong with human lives has to stop now,” said Javier Z£¤iga, who headed Amnesty’s investigation.

Amnesty also found that detainees were not informed of their rights and that many were directly expelled to Morocco without ever setting foot in Spanish territory, in violation of immigration law.

Spanish and other European governments recognize the problem and are working to establish a plan to combat illegal immigration. Leaders including Spanish President Jos Luis Rodr¡guez Zapatero, French President Jacques Chirac, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair met last week to discuss the plan’s objectives.

Zapatero proposed a readmission agreement that would send detainees back to their country of origin, and also increasing development in Sub-Saharan Africa to help alleviate their problems. He emphasized the importance of cooperation among all the countries affected, including those in Europe and North Africa.

The leaders understand that a reinforced barbed-wire fence cannot solve immigration problems.

“Sometimes you need to see the problem from inside, from close up, to change your mind,” said Casero of MSF. “I had a different opinion than I do now. The situation of these people is terrible – they have nothing. I don’t know what the solution is, but the problem needs solving quickly because people are suffering.”