Some 500 migrant girls are to be taken off the streets of Ceuta under an emergency plan that will eventually see them transferred to mainland Spain.

The Spanish government and authorities in the North African enclave have launched the first phase of a major operation to provide accommodation.

Six temporary locations are being prepared to house the girls, including a warehouse-style facility that has already opened, a wedding venue with space for 120 people and two residential buildings offering another 70 and 80 places respectively.

Transfers have already begun, with 96 girls spending Tuesday night at one of the newly established facilities.

Officials expect all 500 to be accommodated over the coming days.

Once that happens, more than 800 migrant girls will be inside Ceuta’s protection system, including more than 350 who were already being cared for before the latest emergency measures.

The intervention comes amid particular concern over the safety of unaccompanied migrant girls in Ceuta.

At least six minors who recently arrived in the Spanish enclave have reported being sexually assaulted, according to previous reports.

Technical officials coordinating the response estimate that the total number of minors currently in Ceuta is no more than 3,000.

The longer-term objective is to transfer hundreds of them to facilities on the Spanish mainland.

However, officials believe completing the operation could take more than a month and potentially as long as two months.

According to sources from the Ministry of Youth and Childhood cited by Cadena SER, authorities are seeking a mechanism that would allow the children to be moved without requiring autonomous regions to take direct responsibility for their care.

The proposed model would be similar to the system established for transferring child asylum seekers from the Canary Islands following a Supreme Court ruling.

Under that arrangement, accommodation and care is managed by designated organisations rather than the regional governments themselves.

‘We are looking for an effective formula that does not require direct reception by the autonomous communities,’ ministry sources said.

The children would therefore be transferred using a mechanism that regional governments ‘cannot oppose because they do not assume guardianship’, the sources added.

The plan will also be presented to the Partido Popular in an attempt to secure cooperation from the regions it governs.

Meanwhile, some of the newly arrived girls are already being moved into temporary accommodation with support from local neighbourhood organisations, including groups in the Príncipe district.

Two schools in El Principe that have been used as emergency accommodation are expected to be emptied this week as children are transferred into the newly prepared facilities.