The Constitutional Court suspends several sections of the minors' protocol of the Canarian Executive

The Plenary of the Constitutional Court has unanimously suspended this Tuesday several sections of the care protocol for children arriving in pateras and cayucos approved by the Government of the Canary Islands, which was already suspended by order of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC).

Sources from the court of guarantees have reported that the Plenary has made this decision after admitting the appeal of the Executive, which had invoked article 161.2 of the Constitution, which establishes automatic suspension when the Government appeals an autonomous regulation for a period of five months, until the court of guarantees resolves the merits of the matter.

In the Government's opinion, the protocol of the Canary Islands Executive limits the autonomous powers over minors, modifies the legal concept of helplessness, imposes obligations on the State's security forces and bodies and regulates "what should be the actions of the State in the exercise of its powers".

In the protocol, the Government of Fernando Clavijo maintains that children who arrive on land alone without an adult family member to take care of them are not helpless, but are in the custody of the Police or the Civil Guard, so the State is responsible for their first reception.

And adds that it will only take care of them in the centers of the autonomous community with individualized files, if they have been correctly identified and as long as it has available places.

Apart from the decision of the TC, said protocol was already suspended by order of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, as it understands that it exposes this group to a risk of unprotectedness, although it understands the complaints of the autonomous Executive.

"The Government of the Canary Islands is not without reason when it invokes the degree of saturation of the resources it has and surely also when the way in which the foreign minors are handed over is objected, in view of the documentation it provides", the magistrates point out, who consider, however, that they must prioritize the best interests of the minors.