New legal setback for the government of the Canary Islands. The Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands has rejected the requests of the Regional Executive and will not lift the suspension of the protocol for the care of migrant minors. The Administrative Dispute Chamber of Santa Cruz de Tenerife confirms the decision taken on September 20 at the request of the public prosecutor’s office, which considers that the application of the measure could violate the fundamental rights of children who arrive on the islands by canoe and boat.
According to the Public Ministry, if the protocol implemented by the Canary Islands coalition government and the Popular Party were executed, unaccompanied migrant minors rescued on the coasts of the islands “would be left without immediate attention and in a situation of obvious helplessness” .
In the document presented to the TSJC, the Canary Islands Executive defends that the protocol does not present any “risk or danger” for the minor, but that it “is limited to reproducing” the framework protocol approved by the State in 2014.
However, as the order itself makes clear, the regional government is “omitting” the new requirements that its plan adds compared to the state’s. Among them, the need for the autonomous community to communicate the availability of places for young people to enter the protection system or the designation of a place for the delivery and reception of unaccompanied minors.
Furthermore, the order emphasizes that, if the territorial protocol is really limited to the reproduction of the state protocol of 2014, “its adoption would be unnecessary” and “in any case, the rights of minors will be sufficiently guaranteed with the validity of the protocol”. ” frame”.
The Government of the Canary Islands has also maintained that the minor is not left in a helpless situation when he is at sea or on land guarded by state security forces and agencies. “The problem arises, and the risk appears, when this detention is prolonged and extended over time,” concludes the Chamber.
In this sense, Justice insists on the fact that the territorial protocol provides for a set of requirements prior to reception: prior communication on the availability of reception places, establishment of a specific place for the delivery of minors, intervention public officials or verification of the identity of the minor. documentation.
“There is a well-founded and reasonable suspicion that the measures in place could slow down the delivery and reception of minors to the authorities responsible for their care and that this slowdown would have a negative impact on their rights,” states bluntly the TSJC . .
“Without a shadow of a doubt, the interest of the minor is certainly in this case the superior interest and to which it is therefore appropriate to give preponderance,” underlines the TJSC.
