The Spanish government participated in its fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the 49th UN Human Rights Council UPR Working Group session, which took place from April 28 through May 9 2025. Spain faced an evaluation of its human rights record from 2020 until the present conducted by government representatives, UN agencies, civil society organizations and other interested parties.
With UNHCR and active NGO participation, the Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration (MISSM) decided to launch the Semilla 2022 project5 in 2022 with the goal of improving GBV prevention and response in the asylum reception system by successfully implementing the 2021 standard operating procedure (SOP) on the GBV prevention and reaction.
The initiative made it possible to network and collaborate with important players, improve data collecting on GBV cases, and make it easier for refugees and asylum seekers to obtain pertinent information, such as their rights and responsibilities.
Mechanisms for reporting and protection have been strengthened. The SOP should be extended to cover other types of abuse against women, as it now only covers situations involving violence between current or former Spanish spouses or partners. The UNHCR also believes that it ought to cover GBV experienced by various groups, including men, girls, boys, and members of the LGBTI+ community.
Key concerns highlighted in the review
- Persistent challenges in Spain’s asylum system despite reform efforts
Spain’s asylum system has faced difficulty despite its overhaul. Long waiting times lead to nine-month delays in asylum registration that stop people from getting essential rights like protection, documentation, healthcare, and employment. The introduction of 2023 measures to speed up police appointments and stop illegal document sales had no effect because delays continued throughout 2024, when many asylum seekers held temporary documentation for extended periods. Vulnerable groups, including unaccompanied children, experience extra difficulties because most programs focus on their needs.
According to UNHCR, thousands of people experience problems, especially when dealing with cultural and language differences. Registration processes have become more efficient for Ukrainian refugees, and Madrid and Malaga both established 2024 emergency plans to support those who come from the Canary Islands. The system faces continuous pressure because it lacks enough staff and technology to handle the backlog, which exceeded 250,000 applications by mid-2024. The asylum system depends heavily on police interviews instead of asylum authorities because they do not provide proper privacy, interpretation or trained personnel, which affects procedural fairness and the identification of specific needs.
- Concerns over border returns and barriers to legal asylum access in Ceuta and Melilla
Spain’s practices at its land borders in Ceuta and Melilla raise significant concerns about violating established regulations that protect individuals with specific needs, such as children and pregnant women. Reports from UNHCR revealed that people faced an immediate return to Morocco without receiving proper administrative procedures ,which violates established procedural protections.
Both the Ombudsperson’s Office and the media reported instances of group returns in 2021 and 2022 and particularly highlighted the 24 June 2022 deadly incident in Melilla, which resulted in 23 deaths. The return process without proper procedures affected people who had already entered Spanish territory, according to multiple testimonies. People who left conflict-affected regions such as Sudan, Yemen, Mali, Syria and Burkina Faso sought asylum but faced difficulties obtaining such protection. The Spanish legal system allows asylum applications from third countries through diplomatic offices, yet the lack of defined processes combined with unproductive administrative systems makes this pathway practically unusable.
UNHCR recommendations to strengthen Spain’s asylum system and safeguards
The Spanish government needs to create fast and safe ways for all asylum seekers to access protection processes by implementing technology-based registration and case management systems. The organization recommends creating fast-track procedures to identify people with specific needs and help them obtain asylum rights. The Office for Asylum needs proper funding alongside the police so they can conduct quality interviews while processing claims within the legal six-month period and delivering documentation through age-, gender- and diversity-sensitive methods.
According to UNHCR, the Government should develop quality assurance standards to maintain standards during interviews and decision-making processes and procedural fairness while continuously providing specialized training to civil servants working in asylum procedures. Spain must guarantee all individuals who declare their protection-seeking intentions both entry to its territory and referral to appropriate asylum processes while protecting them from refoulement. A dependable identification and referral system must exist to provide safe and fair protection access for new arrivals regardless of their background and entry method.
