Around 77 unaccompanied migrant minors arrived this past Wednesday on the coasts of the Canary archipelago in different precarious boats. This has been confirmed by La Voz through cross-referenced data from different institutions involved in the care of survivors of the migratory route to the Canary Islands.
These arrivals occur amidst the debate on the approval of a state law that dictates the mandatory distribution of migrant minors among the rest of the autonomous communities, to which the Popular Party has been reluctant, and after the controversial protocol approved by the Government of the Canary Islands last week to "organize" the arrivals of children arriving by boat without any of their parents. This decree is awaiting a ruling from the Justice system on its immediate suspension, demanded by the Superior Prosecutor's Office of the Canary Islands, accusing it of violating the rights of minors and the Spanish Constitution itself.
Among other points, the Canarian Government acknowledged in its wording, published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands on September 12, that identities are often confused among minors due to problems in the identification process.
In addition, it establishes as "prior requirements for reception" that minors be identified, registered in the network of unaccompanied minors, and that the State is the one to locate them individually after interviewing each minor.
Once this entire process has been carried out, it urges that prior communication be made to know the availability of foster care places and that, when confirmed, the minors be handed over to the police stations of the Autonomous Police of the Canary Islands or "in authorized places".
In total, this past Wednesday the islands received more than a dozen boats that arrived in Lanzarote, El Hierro, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria. On them, 656 people were traveling, 605 men and 51 women. In total, seven people had to be evacuated to hospitals.
Thus, of the people who have survived the route this September 18, 89 were minors, ten girls and adolescents and 79 boys. Among the minors, the majority traveled without the company of any of their parents or legal guardians: a total of 77.
Of the boats that arrived to the islands, four of them were cayuco type, five inflatable boats and one pateras. By origin, six of them left from Morocco and four did so from Mauritania.
