This marks the second transfer carried out this week.
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 24 Aug. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Seven unaccompanied Malian migrant minors seeking asylum have travelled this morning from the Canary Islands to the mainland, as confirmed by sources from the Ministry of Social Welfare of the Canary Government to Europa Press. This transfer represents the fourth of its kind so far in response to a ruling from the Supreme Court, as planned by both the regional and central governments this week.
This group of children, from the ‘Canarias 50’ centre in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, joins another group of girls who left the islands for the mainland on Thursday, originating from Guinea, Senegal (2), Gambia (2), Côte d’Ivoire, and Mali (3), according to the regional government.
TWO TRANSFERS IN ONE WEEK
The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, announced on Monday, 18 August, that the government would be facilitating two more transfers of unaccompanied migrant minors seeking asylum this week.
“I can confirm that we will have two more transfers this week. I appeal to those authorities where these children arrive, to receive them with the best they have. Not with banners, not with walls, and not with statements of ‘I don’t want them here’, as is currently happening,” Torres stated.
This was highlighted at the end of a meeting on Monday with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Canary President Fernando Clavijo in Lanzarote to discuss various issues on the Canarian agenda.
The minister also announced that a Sectoral Conference on Children and Adolescents would take place “by the end of the month”. He expressed hope, albeit “with little expectation”, that the regions governed by the PP would attend and “share their perspectives”. “Unlike the last occasion, when they didn’t even turn up to avoid a quorum, thus preventing the measures presented by the Minister for Children from being approved at that Sectoral Conference,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, Clavijo urged for the expedited departure of unaccompanied migrant minors with asylum rights, as various NGOs have indicated to the regional government that “there are places available on the mainland”. “There is no plan; we continue with the same level of improvisation,” he criticized.
PACE OF DEPARTURES
Additionally, Clavijo reiterated that the Canary Islands have identified NGOs on the mainland capable of accommodating hundreds of minors. “And we have them—because we communicate with all of them. If the Government of the Canary Islands can achieve this and they are located on the mainland, I imagine the Ministry and the Spanish Government can do so with much greater capacity than we can,” he explained.
The Canarian President added that the pace was “too slow” and pointed out that, so far this year, more minors seeking asylum have arrived than those who have departed from the islands to the mainland. “Thus, we are exacerbating the overcrowding issue. And I conveyed this to Sánchez,” he assured.
In response, Torres expressed that the government also wishes for the pace of transfers to be “greater”, but added that these minors “have a series of rights” and that “it is not straightforward”.
