The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has announced the convening of a conference with national NGOs to analyze the situation of all territories regarding compliance with the royal decree law on migrant children. This forum will be held, as explained, on dates close to the deadline that the State has given to the autonomous communities to report on their reception system: March 31.
After meeting with island councils, city councils, and representatives of the third sector in the islands, Clavijo has framed this conference with national NGOs within the objective of “continuing to work” to ensure the development and compliance with the distribution of boys and girls established by the decree law. “In the Canary Islands, we have demonstrated that working in a coordinated manner has yielded very important results,” he said, adding that this “outstretched hand” with those who directly care for the minors must be maintained in order to create the “reception system that as a country” will be launched in the coming months.
The head of the regional government has also thanked the island corporations and representatives of the municipalities for the “support and backing” during the 18 months “of struggle”. In his opinion, the unity of the Canary Islands has been key so that, with the rights of children at the center, the approval of the decree law that must now be validated by the Congress of Deputies has been achieved.
“We are all aware that there is still a lot of work ahead,” Fernando Clavijo emphasized, after calling on the rest of the Spanish territories to commit to “useful politics,” to “not turn a humanitarian drama into a political problem or a territorial problem.” He stressed that “today this decree is the law, and the law must be obeyed.”
The President has also informed the representatives of island councils, city councils, and NGOs about the roadmap set by the Government of the Canary Islands to strengthen its presence in Africa and face the structural migratory challenge with projects “on the other shore”. Clavijo announced that next Monday will kick off the drafting of the first Canary Islands-Africa Strategy, a document that will define public-private lines of work in cooperation and development with Morocco, Senegal, Mauritania, and Gambia.
He has also highlighted the renewed commitment of the regional Executive to the Tierra Firme project. This initiative, already fully operational in Senegal and Mauritania, will soon begin to be developed in Gambia, another of the West African countries key to the migratory challenge. Its success has sparked the interest of the Basque Country to join with its companies and thus increase the number of young Africans who will receive dual vocational training in their countries of origin.
Unanimous support
During the meeting held this Thursday and convened after the publication of the royal decree law in the BOE, the representatives of local corporations and non-governmental organizations that work directly with children have closed ranks around the legislative change already in force that in a month must be validated by the Congress of Deputies.
Representing the island councils, Rosa Dávila congratulated President Clavijo and his entire team for the “success” obtained in their battle to achieve a system of mandatory distribution of unaccompanied migrant children. Dávila was confident that the royal decree will be fulfilled so that there is a clear improvement in the reception system of the Canary Islands. She recalled the “total” involvement of the island councils in the care of the nearly 5,700 minors that the archipelago currently protects.
The president of the Fecam also had words of gratitude for the work carried out by the autonomous Executive in coordination with the State. Mari Brito highlighted the commitment with which all the mayors of the Canary Islands have responded to the urgency of attending to migrant children, in addition to the work developed for the full integration of migrants in the archipelago.
On behalf of social entities, the coordinator of Cear in the Canary Islands, Juan Carlos Lorenzo, considered that now it will be necessary to “prepare” the reception system for minors in all territories. In his opinion, the time remaining before the practical application of the decree law should be used to “analyze the means and reinforce what is necessary.” Lorenzo assured that the change of article 35 of the Immigration Law will contribute to improving the care of migrant children and fully complying with their rights, something now “very difficult” with the saturation that the Canary Islands are experiencing.
The head of the autonomous Executive has explained to island councils, city councils, and NGOs the content of the royal decree law on unaccompanied migrant children 24 hours after meeting the Canary Pact for Migration and obtaining the support of the vast majority of parliamentary groups - all except Vox - to the legislative change of article 35 of the Immigration Law.
In addition to President Fernando Clavijo, the meeting held this Thursday was attended by the Minister of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Childhood and Families, Candelaria Delgado; the Deputy Minister of the Presidency, Alfonso Cabello; the Deputy Minister of the Cabinet of the Presidency, Octavio Caraballo; the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, Francis Candil; the General Secretary of the Presidency, Ceferino Marrero; the Deputy Minister of Legal Services, Jorge María Riestra; and the Deputy Minister of the Vice President's Cabinet, Eduardo Hernández Rosa, representing the Government of the Canary Islands.
On behalf of the island corporations, the president of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Rosa Dávila, the president of El Hierro, Alpidio Armas, and the president of Fuerteventura, Lola García, were present, as well as those responsible for social policies from the other islands. Other representatives of the FECAM and a large group of NGO representatives also participated in this meeting at the Government Presidency Headquarters in Santa Cruz de Tenerife together with Mari Brito: Unicef, Amnesty International, Cear, Red Cross, Save The Children, ACCEM, Cruz Blanca, Nuevo Mundo, Nuevo Futuro, Quorum, Samu, Coliseo, Asproinfa, Fepas, and Siglo XXI.