About 5,500 unaccompanied foreign minors are cared for by the protection system of the Canary Islands, which is still suffering from an unprecedented migration crisis. To illustrate the collapse that the archipelago is suffering, President Fernando Clavijo usually resorts to the following comparison: the United States, with 300 million inhabitants, cares for 11,700 minors. The islands, with 2.2 million residents, just under half.
The referral system for children and adolescents to other autonomous communities, according to Unicef, “doesn’t work”. More than half of the regions have not even completed the transfer of foreign minors they committed to by 2022. Of the 378 migrant children they signed to host in their territories two years ago, there are still 139 who have not been received, according to data from the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030. Cantabria, Catalonia and Madrid, the most lagging behind, with around twenty pending, according to the Unicef ??report. And 381 more were planned for 2023…
The Government of Pedro Sánchez undertook with the regional executive to modify the law so that the distribution – until now at the mercy of the good will of the communities – is mandatory. But, while this reform is coming to fruition, the Canarian reception system is not giving any more of itself. And the United Nations agency is concerned that the fundamental rights of children on the islands are being violated.
The figure of 5,500 minors now under guardianship will still rise. Not only because of the new wave of shepherds coming from Mauritania that was activated a few weeks ago, but because there are still around 1,500 children and teenagers waiting to undergo the tests that determine their age. A situation that, according to the oenagés on the ground, causes endless lists of minors not in school, lack of professional training for those of working age or the absence of psychological assistance still pending bereavements. “The system is not just about giving them a roof or food”, they remind Unicef, from where they criticize that the distribution of competences “cannot violate the rights of children”.
Unlike what happens in Ceuta and Melilla, where young people tend to escape from the centers and live badly on the streets until they try to cross to the peninsula, in the Canary Islands the organizations working on the ground do not detect the presence of teenagers by public road, since the possibility of leaving the islands is nil. “There are overcrowded centres, with children not going to class: they see that the days go by”, he warns from the background for the Infantesa.
The system for unaccompanied migrant minors is different from that for adults. The first depends on the communities; while the second – integral – depends on the Ministry of Inclusion. When it is necessary to deal with an emergency situation – such as the migration crisis of the autumn – places in the adult system are distributed by the central government. They can be available or new resources in hotels, hostels or military quarters. 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, “transparency is lacking”. In other words, the transfer only takes place if the community says it has a place.
Most of the communities defend that their guardianship system for unaccompanied foreign minors is at its maximum. In addition, some autonomous communities 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 mistakes were caught, the teenagers went into the minors system and took places that had been compromised.
