E/CN.4/2003/24 page 29 34. In Ceuta, there have been no cases in which minors unable to return to their countries or to remain in the care of the Moroccan services for the protection of minors have been summarily returned. (…) In Ceuta, the General Commissariat for Aliens and Documentation contacted the Moroccan embassy in Madrid with a view to repatriating minors to their country; the embassy replied that negotiations should be held directly with the authorities of Tetuan province, which would see to it that the minors were reunited with their families. Consequently, the National Police Corps Commissariat in Ceuta contacts the aforementioned authorities and, within a period of not less than 15 days from the communication of the agreement on family reunion, hands over the minors in compliance with that principle. 35. The claim that there is no official body responsible for guaranteeing that unaccompanied children in Ceuta receive the care and protection to which they are entitled by law is completely groundless. Under the law, the autonomous city of Ceuta exercises its competence and responsibility through the Department of Social Welfare. There is no delegation of competence or responsibilities of officials of the national Government to local authorities; each one exercises those assigned to it by the legal system and, if any abuse of the legal system comes to the attention not only of the authorities and officials but also any Spanish citizen, such persons are obliged by law to report such abuse to the nearest judge or prosecutor. Coordination between the central and autonomous administrations is ongoing and smooth and is carried out between the Department of Social Welfare, the Migration and Social Services Institute and the regional office of the Government. 36. On 20 June 2002, police records were transmitted to Examining Court No. 2 in Ceuta, accusing two care-givers of the San Antonio Centre for Minors of causing lesions to Mohamed Garbagui. When the examining court was contacted, it stated that the proceedings had been terminated. The last record of the minor’s presence in Ceuta was on 22 February 2002, the date on which he was detained on the order of the city’s juvenile court. 37. On 14 October 200[?], forces of the Civil Guard took a sworn statement concerning alleged aggression resulting in injuries. The complainants were two Algerian citizens, Said Mohamed and Hassan Uaharami, who claimed that the incident had occurred at 10 p.m. on the previous day. When Examining Court of First Instance No. 3 was contacted, it made a verbal statement that the proceedings had been terminated on 13 April. Both in this and the preceding case, termination of proceedings is a declaration by the court that the case has been closed owing to a lack of the necessary prerequisites for instituting oral proceedings or issuing an indictment. 38. There is no information that any kind of sexual abuse has taken place at the San Antonio Centre for Minors. However, on 14 April 2000, the director of the Centre informed the National Police Corps Commissariat that an individual driving a car used to prowl the area looking for minors that he could sexually abuse. Members of the Minors’ Unit of the National Police Corps began investigations that resulted in the detention of three individuals on whom case documents were prepared and who were handed over to Examining Court No. 4. All three individuals were released. The Ombudsman expressed interest in the case and began informal pre-trial proceedings. He received a summary of the relevant information and, in a document dated 2 October 2000, terminated the proceedings.