Transfers of unaccompanied migrant minors from the Canary Islands begin
A first group of ten minors will comply with the court order requiring the Spanish government to take charge of the thousand minor asylum seekers on the islands.
BarcelonaThis Monday, the transfer of migrant minors seeking asylum in the Canary Islands is scheduled to begin. An initial group of ten young people will be transferred from the islands to state international protection centers on the Peninsula, according to sources from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration and the Welfare Department of the Canary Islands Government. It is expected that, starting with this initial transfer, there will be two weekly transfers of between 15 and 20 minors. For reasons of child protection, the Spanish government will not provide further details about the transfer, for example, where they will be placed.
Thus, the Spanish government complies with the order of the Supreme Court that on March 25 determined that the State must take charge, with its resources, of approximately 1,000 unaccompanied migrant minors who had requested asylum in the Canary Islands. The decision responded to precautionary measures requested by the Canary Islands. However, to carry out the transfers, the Spanish government must request permission from the Canary Islands government, which holds guardianship over the minors.
The majority of minor asylum seekers who have entered this process have a "highly vulnerable" profile, and many of them have fled wars alone. Almost 90% are Malians, and among them are girls and adolescents, according to ministerial sources. The Supreme Court had given the Spanish government 10 days to take charge, but The answer came last week, five months laterTo comply with the Supreme Court's order, the Council of Ministers approved a €40 million funding package and will create 1,200 new places in centers across the Peninsula.
The first 10 will be released today.
The relocation of these first ten minors, initially planned to be eight, will be subject to flight availability, according to sources from the Canary Islands Government's Welfare Department. The transferred minors will be accompanied by staff from collaborating entities, as well as by ministry professionals, already designated by the State Secretariat for Migration, according to ministry sources. The objective is to ensure that "their integrity, well-being, and best interests [of the child] take priority in the transfer and relocation process."
As of Friday at 6:30 p.m., the departure date, the destination of each minor, and the accompanying persons were not specified. The Canary Islands Government's Welfare Department has reported that another 15 or 20 minors are also expected to depart later this week, but that the central government will determine their number when it sends the list. If there are no seats available for the young people to fly on the scheduled dates, the state government will have to reapply for authorization from the Canary Islands with the new date.
The central and archipelago governments hold an inter-administrative meeting every Tuesday to work on the transfer of these minor asylum seekers.
It should be noted that this process is parallel. to the distribution agreed with the autonomous communities of thousands of migrant minors currently in the Canary Islands. In principle, the regions are required to provide information on their current situation and, subsequently, to accept the distribution if they do not wish to break the law. The government intends to begin this process at the end of August.
