The Government of the Canary Islands and the Central Executive have reached an agreement for the care of unaccompanied migrant minors who are on the islands and have applied for asylum, after the Supreme Court established in an order that the State must integrate them into international protection resources.
The general director of Protection of Children and Families of the Government of the Canary Islands, Sandra Rodríguez, made this announcement after a telematic meeting with representatives of the Government of Spain in which the itinerary and the steps to follow have been agreed for the care of minors, a commitment that she has described as "very positive".
Representatives from the ministries of Inclusion, Childhood, Interior and Territorial Policy, as well as the State Attorney's Office, participated on behalf of the central government.
"The best interests of the minor" will be prioritized, that is, each file will be studied and a decision will be made in each case according to the personal situation of the children, explained the general director of Child Protection.
For now, of the nearly 1,200 initial minors, there are 827 minors with all the correct documentation, since they are included in the databases of both administrations, while there are 367 who are not in the database of the Ministry of the Interior.
The Canary Islands has been officially submitting the documentation of all minors with an application for international protection and the place or location in which they would be entitled to asylum, but in some cases it is necessary to refine the databases maintained by the Canary Islands and the Ministry of the Interior to resolve these discrepancies.
From now on, an inter-administrative committee will be created that will meet every Tuesday from next week and will be responsible for determining the most suitable place in the Spanish territory for each minor, a place that exceptionally may be in the Canary Islands if it means ensuring the best interests of the minor.
Each minor has a migratory project that may be to continue to another place or remain in the Canary Islands, she pointed out.
For the first meeting of the inter-administrative committee, the parties have committed to have 250 files ready for the short-term transfer of these minors "as soon as the State tells us where and in what transitional device," said Sandra Rodríguez.
In any case, she made it clear that the Canary Islands "cannot continue to bear this pressure alone" as it has been bearing over these years.
She indicated that all these agreements will be transferred to the Supreme Court, to which the Canary Islands will communicate "everything that we have been detecting throughout these days".
"There have been times when we have even been required documentation beyond what is strictly established in the law," but "we have already managed to make it clear that we cannot be asked for more," said the general director.
Sandra Rodríguez has guaranteed that the Autonomous Community will continue to fight "for the right that these minors have to that asylum place", which is independent of the distribution that may occur due to the modification of the immigration law, she stated.
