The Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR) has warned this Thursday of the difficulties in applying the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum due to a lack of training, personnel, clear instructions, and economic resources, and has called for the protection of the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers to be guaranteed.
The general directors of CEAR, Mauricio Valiente and Mónica López, have conveyed these concerns to the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, in a meeting in Santa Cruz de Tenerife where they also discussed the situation of the Atlantic Route and the consequences of the new European framework for the archipelago.
In statements to the press, Valiente pointed out that a pact that took years to finalize should have been sufficiently prepared for its implementation and warned that the lack of resources is hindering the development of administrative procedures.
"Administrative action cannot be based solely on good faith. There must be clear instructions, personnel, and also economic resources," he concluded.
The CEAR official explained that changes in the care of minors and in the data to be collected during interviews can delay procedures when there is an insufficient allocation of resources.
He added that the difficulties are not limited to Spain, but have also been detected in other European Union states.
In their meeting with Clavijo, CEAR thanked the Government of the Canary Islands for the role it has played in assisting migrants, minors, and asylum seekers, and defended the need to maintain dialogue between institutions to address this reality with concrete measures.
Valiente also warned of the increase in xenophobia and called for responsibility from political leaders regarding discourses on immigration.
According to him, CEAR has never observed a situation of harassment towards social organizations like the current one, which hinders the normalized development of their humanitarian work.
"Immigration is a reality that is not going to change, it is a structural fact, and it is important to be able to address it with rationality," he stated.
In relation to migrant minors, the general director of CEAR has defended compliance with the legal framework and recalled that, when their relatives are located, the priority is family reunification, while, when it is not possible, the procedures in place must be applied to guarantee their protection.
He also questioned that the European Union is considering modifying aspects of its migration policy before evaluating the implementation of the recently prepared pact.
Clavijo also criticizes the European Pact
For his part, Clavijo agreed in pointing out the difficulties in applying the new European framework and criticized that the implementation of the new Pact on Migration and Asylum is "more complex and less protective of people's rights," in addition to hindering the work of officials and NGOs, due to the lack of planning and means to develop the procedures.
In his opinion, the European Union intended to retain migrants in border territories and that objective may have led to a procedure "so complex and so unprotective," with the expectation of discouraging arrivals.
"But that is not going to happen, we are seeing it in the Canary Islands," stated Clavijo, who expressed his concern about the possibility that the migratory phenomenon will intensify at the end of the year.
He also demanded more resources for migration care in the Canary Islands, especially in El Hierro, where he requested stable health and transport provisions.
He indicated that the Canary Islands will maintain emergency care in triage at the dockside, but argued that the Ministry must provide resources to care for the people who arrive, as, he indicated, happens in Ceuta, and expand the agreement with the Red Cross.
Clavijo indicated that his Executive continues to receive no response to its communications addressed to the central government and has called for dialogue between both administrations to coordinate resources and actions in response to arrivals.
"I cannot conceive that the public management of something so important cannot be from government to government," he stated, while expressing his incomprehension at the lack of dialogue with the Secretariat of State for Migration at a time of an increase in arrivals to the archipelago.
Furthermore, Clavijo has pointed out that the Canary Islands Government continues to monitor the situation of migrant minors and has expressed his desire not to have to go to the Supreme Court again to ensure that the corresponding obligations are met.
"I would like not to have to go to the Supreme Court again, but rather for this to be redirected," he added.
The president has asked that, apart from the electoral campaign, administrations maintain the necessary work and coordination to face the migratory situation.
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