The president of the Spanish General Council of Lawyers, Salvador González, assured this Monday that the basic rights of immigrants arriving in pateras and cayucos are not respected, and added that the solution is to think about human dignity.
Accompanied by the dean of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Bar Association, José Manuel Niederleytner, the president of the Spanish General Council of Lawyers stated at a press conference that the situation in which migrants receive legal assistance is "dramatic."
Salvador González, who last Friday was in Lanzarote and this Monday will move to El Hierro, indicated that these are people who arrive in a situation of "absolute" vulnerability and sometimes suffer discrimination due to both race and sex, as well as sexual assault.
Free assistance is provided by 250 lawyers in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and their work is carried out in the case of immigrants in precarious situations due to lack of resources, time and translators, said Salvador González and José Manuel Niederleytner.
"We cannot only look at the costs" of the services, said the president of the Spanish General Council of Lawyers, and stressed that lawyers ask that administrations become aware of the importance of paying attention at a crucial moment for immigrants.
The dean of the bar association of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife recalled that when a patera or cayuco arrives in El Hierro, lawyers have to travel to that island and do not always find tickets for it, or accommodation, and added that the attention is provided without privacy and often without interpreters.
José Manuel Niederleytner recalled that migrants have the same rights as "us" and yet "many times" they are not respected, and called on administrations to provide interpreters.
The dean of the bar association insisted that just traveling in a cayuco or patera is already a danger, and acknowledged that there are difficulties in improving care but stressed that the rights of people should not be forgotten.
The president of the Spanish General Council of Lawyers explained that sometimes the aggressor and the victim have to live together in a very small space, and considered that it is also not dignified that these people risk their lives and then 12 are attended to at the same time and in a language that is not their own.
The dean of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Bar Association commented that the excuse for not improving the situation is that there is a lack of resources, but, he pointed out, this year it remains the same despite the fact that there are fewer arrivals.
José Manuel Niederleytner stressed that the arrival of immigrants is not a temporary issue, since the Canary Islands are on a migratory route, so he asked that structural solutions be adopted.
And the president of the General Council of Lawyers said that basic rights must be at the center and politics must seek solutions to ensure that they are respected.