Some 5,500 unaccompanied foreign minors are being cared for by the Canary Islands protection system, which continues to suffer an unprecedented migration crisis. To illustrate the collapse suffered by the archipelago, President Fernando Clavijo usually resorts to the following comparison: the United States, with 300 million inhabitants, protects 11,700 minors. The islands, with 2.2 million residents, just under half.
The system of referral of children and adolescents to other autonomous communities, in Unicef's opinion, “is not working.” More than half of the regions have not even completed the transfer of foreign minors to whom they committed in 2022. Of the 378 migrant children that they signed to welcome in their territories two years ago, 139 have not yet been received, according to data from the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030. Cantabria, Catalonia and Madrid, the furthest behind with twenty pending. And another 381 were planned for 2023...
The Government of Pedro Sánchez committed to the regional Executive to modify the law so that the distribution – until now at the mercy of the good will of the communities – becomes mandatory. But while this reform comes to fruition, the Canary Islands reception system is no longer performing. And the United Nations agency is concerned that the fundamental rights of children on the islands are being violated.
The number of 5,500 minors now in care will continue to rise. Not only because of the new wave of cayucos from Mauritania that was activated a few weeks ago, but also because there are still some 1,500 children and adolescents pending to undergo tests to determine their ages. A situation that, according to NGOs on the ground, is causing endless lists of out-of-school minors, a lack of professional training for those of working age or the absence of psychological assistance even with pending mourning. “The system is not just about giving them a roof over their heads or food,” they recall at Unicef, from where they criticize that the distribution of powers “cannot violate the rights of children.”
Unlike what happens in Ceuta and Melilla, where young people tend to escape from the centers and live poorly on the streets until they try to cross to the Peninsula, in the Canary Islands the organizations that work on the ground are not detecting the presence of adolescents on the public roads, since the possibilities of leaving the islands are zero. “There are crowded centers, with children not going to class: watching the days go by,” warns from the fund for children.
The system for unaccompanied migrant minors is different from that for adults. The first depends on the communities, while the second – integral – falls on the Ministry of Inclusion. When an emergency situation has to be faced – such as the migration crisis last autumn – places in the adult system are distributed by the Government. Whether available or new resources in hotels, shelters or military barracks. In the case of minors, transfers cannot be carried out until each community reports that it has free places in its territory. And at this point, according to Unicef, “there is a lack of transparency.” That is, the transfer only occurs if the community says it has space.
Most communities maintain that their guardianship system for unaccompanied foreign minors is at its maximum. Furthermore, some autonomies have reported that they have received during this time – from Ceuta, Melilla or the Canary Islands – minors who were originally identified as adults. When the errors were detected, the adolescents were transferred to the juvenile system, occupying places that had been compromised.
