The Minister of Social Rights, Equality, Diversity and Youth of the Government of the Canary Islands, Noemí Santana, reported this Tuesday that a formal complaint has been filed with the Autonomous Police and the Prosecutor's Office for Minors regarding possible crimes of sexual abuse and prostitution in a tourist accommodation in Mogán (Gran Canaria) where unaccompanied immigrant minors are located.
Santana explained that this complaint was filed after her Ministry received an anonymous complaint on May 31, via email, stating that sexual abuse and prostitution of minors were allegedly taking place in the Porto Bello accommodation, where there is an emergency device for unaccompanied foreign minors.
Given this information and the "seriousness" of what was stated, Santana pointed out in statements to journalists, the General Directorate of Childhood opened an internal investigation, which "has always been in collaboration with the entity that provides service in Porta Bella, the S.XXI Foundation, and with the Canarian Police", in addition to bringing it to the attention of the Prosecutor's Office for Minors.
She added that after concluding this internal investigation, the General Directorate of Childhood has filed a formal complaint with both the Minor Unit of the Canarian Police and the Prosecutor's Office, in order to transfer the anonymous complaint.
In addition, the complaint filed by Childhood includes "possible names and does not establish a time limit" on the events, and also refers to the "deficiencies found in the resource." Likewise, the counselor added that the entity that manages the device has assured that "at no time has it had knowledge" of them.
"Action will be taken forcefully"
Santana has defended that the Ministry she leads will "act forcefully" in the face of the reported events, clarifying that "who must resolve is the Police and the Prosecutor's Office", although her department will "accompany" and will appear "in any case if there are indications of these crimes." However, she stressed that they have "done what they had to do, bring it to the attention of the police and the justice system."
In any case, Noemí Santana has indicated that they have been saying for "many months" that their "priority" was to be able to close the devices that were located in tourist accommodation, as well as that they have "always" pointed out that this type of device "was not suitable to house children and adolescents there", although she has clarified that in the face of the "humanitarian immigration emergency experienced by the archipelago, with more than 2,700 children under the tutelage of this community, something that had never happened in history, it was necessary to make use of these devices."
Even so, she has stated that since May they have been transferring the minors to other "more suitable" resources, pointing out that in May they closed one of these tourist accommodations in Mogán, the Tamanaco, and in the case of Porto Bello - where the complaint has occurred - since June 1, minors have been transferred to other centers either in the Canary Islands or in the Peninsula.
This center, she specified, had at one time about 170 places and currently has 121 occupied, although "today 43 boys will be transferred to other resources in the community", in such a way that she hopes that the Porto Bello device "can see its total closure in the month of July, probably mid-July", as well as two others that remain in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
