Around a hundred migrants who arrived in Lanzarote in the last 24 hours have had to sleep on the Puerto Naos dock due to the lack of resources on the island. According to the Lanzarote Security and Emergency Consortium, unaccompanied minors, families and adults have spent the night in the port itself.
It is not the first time that the lack of permanent resources to attend to the first reception forces to improvise a sleeping space on the dock. Sometimes it has been in the open, without mattresses and on the ground. This time, the Emergency Consortium and the Social Welfare area of the Cabildo of Lanzarote have provided some mattresses. However, this situation may lead to a violation of the rights of migrant children, as warned by the Canarian Prosecutor's Office itself.
The Ministry of Social Welfare of the Government of the Canary Islands, led by Candelaria Delgado (Coalición Canaria), already assured last October that the tent installed by the Executive in Naos would be for unaccompanied minors, who are the responsibility of the regional government, to "spend a few days" until the reception centers have been adapted.
Deficiencies in Lanzarote's reception resources
The problems in the reception resources not only affect those of regional ownership, but also those managed by the Government of Spain. The Annual Report of the Prosecutor's Office already warned that the Temporary Foreigners Attention Center (CATE) of Arrecife, located next to the National Police station and where adults who arrive in precarious boats to the island are held in the first 72 hours, "does not meet the necessary conditions".In this line, the Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, already warned that "despite the substantial improvements" in the resources of the island, they are insufficient and agreed that the CATE "does not meet the conditions" to be called as such.
