SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Aug. 24 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Childhood and Families of the Government of the Canary Islands, Candelaria Delgado, met this Thursday with Sophie Muller, Acnur’s representative in Spain, and warned that a “significant arrival of minors, migrant and refugee women and families in the coming weeks” to the islands.
In this meeting, the challenge represented by the arrivals of unaccompanied migrant and refugee children was analyzed, a particularly vulnerable group in which the international protection needs may be greater than in adults, due to the specific circumstances that motivate their departure and the absence of possibility of return in the short term.
It is therefore necessary to join forces to identify and protect refugee children and address the situation of immediate reception facilities in the Canary Islands, reports the Canarian Government in a note.
To do this, said Delgado, the Executive asks not only for the “solidarity” of the rest of the autonomous communities but also to comply with the agreement reached within the framework of the XXVI Conference of Presidents in March 2022, where the need to accommodate these boys and girls in a co-responsible way within Spanish territory, as well as the involvement of the European Union in this line since, he recalled, “The Canary Islands are the southern border of Europe”.
According to data from the Ministry, so far this year a total of 186 boats and cayucos have arrived on the islands, in which 1,598 unaccompanied minors were traveling, 1,483 boys and 115 girls. In addition, 13 missing minors were registered and 5 lost their lives.
In this sense, the counselor clarified that during the month of August there has been a lower arrival of boys and girls in relation to previous months although, she insisted, she hopes that the arrival of minors as well as women and families to the coasts “will increase considerably in the months of September and October”.
According to the counselor, “it is usual for male adults to arrive first and, in subsequent waves, more migrant and refugee women and children join.”
GUARANTEE LEGAL AND SOCIAL PROTECTION
This was one of the issues that focused the working meeting held in Tenerife with the head of UNHCR, Sophie Muller, in which the need to continue and expand cooperation between both institutions was discussed in order to guarantee the legal and social protection of migrant and refugee minors.
In this regard, Muller shared the ‘Guide for professionals who work with unaccompanied refugee children’ published by Acnur together with the Comillas Pontifical University, and reiterated the organization’s willingness to collaborate with the Canarian Government and, among other measures, support the group of referents for asylum and the table for migrant and refugee children in the Canary Islands for the development of a protocol for action and accompaniment in cases of asylum for minors in the Canary Islands.
Likewise, the meeting addressed the situation of women who arrive by sea in the Canary Islands, since many of them are survivors of persecution for gender reasons in their countries of origin, such as female genital mutilation, forced marriages or gender violence, or during the route.
UNHCR also recalled that it is essential to manage the arrivals of migrant and refugee women from a “gender approach” that guarantees a correct identification of their needs, as well as their protection and referral to appropriate assistance devices.
