Spain has returned to Morocco more than a dozen Sub-Saharan African and Asian migrants who reached Ceuta and were turned down for asylum, the first deportation of its kind from the enclave since a mass border crossing in July.

The Interior Ministry said the group had been sent back to Morocco after it agreed to receive them and they remained on Moroccan territory at present. It declined to give numbers or nationalities but migrant and rights charities operating in Ceuta said 16 people from Senegal, Nigeria, Yemen, Cameroon, and Bangladesh were deported.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which cooperates with Moroccan authorities on voluntary return programmes for third country nationals or migrants, told Reuters IOM does not participate in deportations or forced removals.

"Decisions on removals are the sovereign responsibility of states, and IOM has no role in determining who is removed or where they are sent," it said, adding that its voluntary return programme supports migrants to rebuild their lives after choosing to go back to their countries of origin.

Thousands of migrants being housed

A spokesperson for Spain's Interior Ministry told Reuters that Morocco is considered by the EU to be a safe country, and deportations are carried out "with all the necessary safeguards", without providing further details.

Over 48 hours in July, some 80,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Africa.

While most returned within days, thousands remain and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government is under pressure from the EU and a frustrated populace to fix the Ceuta crisis before elections on November 29.

Spanish authorities are housing 8,000 migrants in reception centres and processing asylum applications lodged by the majority of people remaining in Ceuta.