The Government of the Canary Islands, island councils and city councils, all political forces with representation in Parliament, with the exception of Vox, and third sector entities made this Monday an "unprecedented front" in defense of the agreement for the mandatory distribution of unaccompanied minors who arrive on the islands and which will be debated in the Sectoral Commission for Children to be held in Santa Cruz de Tenerife this Wednesday.
In this way, fifty public, political and social representatives supported the agreement promoted by the Government of the Canary Islands together with the State Government and presented to the spokespersons of the political forces in the Congress of Deputies on June 25 and 26 “for the modification of the Organic Law on Immigration that guarantees solidarity with an equitable distribution of these minors; and demand support and approval from the Government of Spain and the General Courts.”
In short, the Canary Islands front supported the proposal presented to the spokespersons of the political forces in the Congress of Deputies on June 25 and 26 “for the modification of the Organic Law on Immigration that guarantees solidarity with an equitable distribution of these minors; and demand support and approval from the Government of Spain and the General Courts.”
Likewise, with the signing this Monday, “they also join all those initiatives undertaken by the Government of the Canary Islands to guarantee said distribution and duly ensure the protection of the best interests of the minors.”
The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, stated at the end of the meeting that “the Canary Islands has just demonstrated that it only has one voice in migration management” and advocated that “that voice be heard and heeded by the rest of the Autonomous Communities, by the State and by the European Union.”
President Clavijo, together with all the institutions, political forces and third sector entities, called for “an agreement that is up to the worst humanitarian crisis in Spain and the European Union.” In this regard, he stated “we owe it to the more than 5,500 boys and girls who remain on the islands and also to a territory that has more than proven to be a land of solidarity and that bears all the weight of the Southern Border of Spain and Europe.”
The head of the Canarian Executive stressed that next Wednesday - during the Intersectoral Commission for Children - “what is being tested is whether we are a country capable of responding to a humanitarian crisis or whether we continue to live with our backs to the migratory phenomenon, leaving the Canary Islands alone.”
Precisely, in this context, President Clavijo acknowledged during the meeting the “seriousness” of the situation with a reception network “totally overwhelmed and that has no capacity to continue increasing reception places. The Canary Islands - he pointed out - has reached its ceiling and this agreement is the only response to guarantee that these boys and girls have a present and a vital project.”
Recognition
Likewise, the president of the Canary Islands conveyed his gratitude to the Island Councils, city councils, represented at the meeting by the Canarian Federation of Municipalities, FECAM, political forces and third sector entities for “being shoulder to shoulder with the Government of the Canary Islands in migration management, today once again by signing this agreement that, we trust, will be heeded by the rest of the territories because it is not the agreement of this Executive or the State, or of a political force, it is the agreement - he stressed - of the more than 5,500 boys and girls who are waiting for an opportunity in centers in the Canary Islands that are collapsed and that have no more reception capacity.”
The meeting, chaired by the president, Fernando Clavijo, was also attended by the vice president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Manuel Domínguez, the Minister of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Children and Families, Candelaria Delgado, the deputy minister of Legal Services, José María Riestra, the deputy minister of the Presidency, Alfonso Cabello and the deputy minister of Social Welfare, Francis Candil. On behalf of the Island Councils, the agreement was signed by the president of the Tenerife Island Council, Rosa Dávila, from Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, from La Palma, Sergio Rodríguez, from Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, from Fuerteventura, Lola García, from El Hierro, Alpidio Armas and the vice president of the La Gomera Island Council, Adasat Reyes.
Likewise, the 88 Canarian city councils were represented by the president of the Canarian Federation of Municipalities, FECAM, Mari Brito, the vice presidents, Ana Dorta, Armando Raúl Dorta and Rosa María Chinea, and the member of the FECAM Executive Committee, Francisco Atta. Regarding the parliamentary groups, the meeting was attended by the spokesperson for the Canarian Nationalist Group, José Miguel Barragán, from the Popular Party, Luz Reverón, from the Socialist Party, Sebastián Franquis, from Nueva Canarias, Luis Campos, from the Gomera Socialist Group, Jesús Ramos, from the Mixed Group, Raúl Acosta, and from the Vox Group, Paula Jover, the only group that declined to sign the agreement.
Sixteen Third Sector entities linked to the care of unaccompanied minors signed the agreement to promote the reform of the Immigration Law with the exception of UNICEF and UNHCR who did not sign because they are part of the United Nations, and Save the Children and the Red Cross, who did not do so because the legal representatives of these two entities were not present at the meeting, however, the four NGOs showed their total support for the document. The rest of the entities were Cruz Blanca, Nuevo Mundo, Nuevo Futuro, Quorum, SAMU, Coliseo, ASPROINFA, FEPAS, Siglo XXI, ACCEM, Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR) and Fundación CEPAIM.
Agreement
The basis of the agreement for the reform of the Immigration Law agreed between the Government of the Canary Islands and the State recognizes its application only in the territories that are in a situation of migratory emergency, at this time the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla. In the current situation, it would mean the departure from the islands to other territories of approximately 2,500 unaccompanied minors within a maximum period of 12 months, according to the current criteria, set by the Sectoral Commission on Migration in 2022, as well as those who arrive whenever the quota is exceeded. In this context, the criterion for defining the saturation situation of a territory will be when it is above 150% of its capacity, which would immediately activate the transfer of these minors to other autonomous communities.
