21 July 2026
Bilbao
Between 2023 and 2026, the Institute worked with the legal team of the Jesuit Migrant Service Spain (Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes España, SJM) on a series of legal cases concerning pushbacks in the Alboran Sea. Following a request for legal advice from the SJM, and as part of the Institute’s social impact activities, a team comprising Joana Abrisketa, Gustavo de la Orden, Encarnación La Spina, Araitz Peña and Eduardo J. Ruiz was established to examine the cases and prepare legal arguments against the practice of pushbacks on the grounds that they breach the prohibition of collective expulsions and the right to asylum.
The Institute provided legal advice at various stages of the proceedings. First, it prepared a legal report examining the relationship between the international obligation to rescue people at sea and the prohibition of collective expulsions. This formed the basis of an appeal against the return of a Syrian family intercepted near the Chafarinas Islands. In 2024, the appeal was upheld by the High Court of Justice of Andalusia, Ceuta and Melilla.
The SJM subsequently sought the Institute’s assistance in another case to prepare legal arguments in response to an appeal before the Supreme Court concerning the proposed application of the border rejection regime in waters off Ceuta, beyond the border fences. In June 2026, the Supreme Court of Spain handed down its judgment, dismissing the appeal and incorporating much of the reasoning set out in the Institute’s legal report.
