The Ministry of Youth and Children has sent a report to the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office in which it warns of the possible impact of the protocol approved by the Government of the Canary Islands for the reception of unaccompanied migrant minors. The Ministry stresses that the measures imposed by the Canarian Executive could constitute a serious violation of the fundamental rights of children who arrive on the coasts of the autonomous community and be contrary to both Spanish legislation and international child protection agreements.
This Thursday, the Government of the Canary Islands, made up of the Canarian Coalition and the Popular Party, announced this protocol, which introduces a series of prerequisites for the entry of migrant minors into the regional reception system. Among these requirements are, for example, the individualized identification of minors, their registration in the Registry of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors (RMENA) and the issuance of an administrative resolution from the State, all this before the children can access the services of the autonomous community.
According to the Canary Islands Executive, the aim of the plan is to avoid the disorder that has dominated the process so far and to guarantee the “necessary organization” of children for their “immediate attention”. However, the Ministry of Youth and Children has expressed concern about the possible consequences of this protocol and warns the Public Prosecutor’s Office that “with this measure, the Canary Islands are endangering the rights of children and adolescents in a situation of helplessness”. , according to sources from the Ministry of Sira Rego.
“[El protocolo] “violates article 39.4 of the Spanish Constitution, which provides that children will benefit from the protection provided for in international agreements that guarantee their rights,” the organization recalls. “This represents a violation of the rights of minors by limiting their protection in the autonomous territory, contravening the rights recognized by the CRC and not taking proactive measures to guarantee the well-being of the minor to the extent that the act of the Autonomous Community, a clear action emerges that reduces the effectiveness of the rights of minors”
According to the report, the new measures slow down the protection of minors and, therefore, limit the effectiveness of their rights at a particularly vulnerable time for them. This situation, say sources from the Ministry, is contrary to the obligation of the public authorities to act proactively to guarantee the well-being of minors in all circumstances, and they criticize the fact that the Canary Islands protocol could contravene the Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands itself, which gives the Autonomous Community exclusive competence in matters of protection of minors.
“The prosecution will be able to tell us where we should take these unaccompanied minors”
On the other hand, the vice-president of the government of the Canary Islands, Manuel Domínguez (PP), denied this Saturday that unaccompanied migrant minors are or will be in a situation of abandonment, and assured that the regional Executive would comply with the instructions of the Prosecutor’s Office. “The Prosecutor’s Office will be able to tell us where we should take these unaccompanied minors and we are fully available to continue caring for these children. I do not know if they deserve the care they deserve, but what we will never do is abandon them,” he assured before chairing a meeting of the PP’s autonomous board of directors.
The Vice President of the Canary Islands stressed that the intention of his government is simply “that the law is respected.” Until now, the Canary Islands Executive affirms, the minors were simply handed over by the National Police to the NGOs responsible for their reception by means of a list, a kind of “grouped delivery” without identification that has caused a certain “confusion of identities” among the people. Domínguez said that the plan aims to “stop doing things as they have done so far” and that the migrant minors are handed over by the police, not to the NGOs, but to a person responsible for the autonomous community and “in an individualized manner, with a photograph, a fingerprint, a name, an identification, and that we know exactly where this minor is going to go.
The new protocol is published amid growing tensions between the Canary Islands government and the central government over responsibility for managing unaccompanied migrant minors. The Canary Islands Executive defends the need to establish this type of controls to avoid greater saturation of its reception centers, which currently host more than 5,300 minors. The Spanish government, for its part, is reviewing the protocol with its legal services to verify whether it encroaches on the exclusive powers of the State, such as the guardianship of migrant minors, as announced on Thursday by the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory. , Angel Victor Torres. Torres insisted on the importance of coordinating responsibilities.
The Canary Islands project has also sparked opposition from Podemos, which believes that it “is out of place” and that it will generate “situations of helplessness” for children “putting bureaucracy before their protection”. “We, the Canaries, defend from the outset a comprehensive protection without bureaucratic problems that imply harm or violation of the rights of migrant children,” the organization said in a statement on Friday.
