SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 25 Oct (EUROPA PRESS) –
In the previous year, the Prosecutor’s Office initiated a total of 3,471 procedures in the Canary Islands to ascertain the ages of migrant minors arriving on our shores, with 69% conducted by the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and 31% by the Prosecutor’s Office of Las Palmas, as outlined in the report presented today, Friday, at the parliamentary headquarters by María Farnés Martínez, the senior prosecutor of the Canary Islands.
During her presentation, the prosecutor emphasised that human trafficking offences have been one of the primary focuses of the Prosecutor’s Office throughout 2023, particularly on the island of El Hierro, where since August 2022 there has been an average daily influx of one hundred individuals. Consequently, the Prosecutor’s Office began only 236 age determination procedures in the first half of 2023, whereas from September to November, it initiated 1,284, culminating in a total of 2,410.
As an illustration, María Farnés Martínez noted that in October of the previous year, 88 vessels, or cayucos, arrived in El Hierro carrying 11,284 people, among whom there were 381 women and 1,478 minors. In the entire autonomous community, throughout 2023, 697 vessels arrived, bringing with them 40,190 individuals, of whom 36 died, 143 were detained, and 95 are currently imprisoned. Of these arrivals, 36,191 were men, 2,232 were women, 3,196 were minors requiring age determination, and 2,084 were unequivocally minors.
The prosecutor remarked that following numerous meetings aimed at addressing this issue, a special unit of Civil Guard specialists was established at the Hospital del Sur, alongside forensic doctors from the Peninsula. This collaboration allowed tests for age determination to be carried out on 1,300 minors within just a month and a half, whereas only 20 tests had been initially scheduled weekly at the Ntra. Sra. de Candelaria University Hospital, which the prosecutor described as “chaotic”.
Regarding staffing, María Farnés Martínez pointed out that while there have not been significant alterations, the Prosecutor’s Offices have been bolstered in response to the migration crisis. Specifically, four additional prosecutors have been added to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife province, along with one prosecutor in the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Las Palmas.
NEED FOR EXPANSION.
Concerning the remainder of the report, the prosecutor highlighted that the facilities remain “practically unchanged” from previous years, while insisting upon the “urgent need” to expand the headquarters of the Prosecutor’s Office so that “once and for all” the facilities of the Palace of Justice in Santa Cruz de Tenerife match those in Las Palmas.
“There is no viable justification of any kind for explaining why citizens of Santa Cruz must endure these facilities, which yield considerably different and inferior services from the justice system,” the prosecutor stated, adding that the Palace of Justice “cannot expand either in judicial capacity or in the number of prosecutors”, which indicates “a decline in the quality of the justice system in Santa Cruz de Tenerife province”.
Additionally, she condemned the “critical” state of the Prosecutor’s Office headquarters in Puerto del Rosario, which lacks ventilation, is plagued by sewage flooding, is without prospects for expansion, and has been without air conditioning for three weeks, forcing prosecutors to work from home. She also warned that this year it had nearly closed due to an electrical system failure that halted operations.
A similar situation exists in San Bartolomé de Tirajana, where despite an increase in prosecutors, they are not providing services within this Judicial District and have had to relocate to the City of Justice because there is no facility available in San Bartolomé for them to work, thereby preventing any increase in staffing.
ACTIVITY OF THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICES
In 2023, 149,285 criminal cases were initiated, with 76,031 originating from Las Palmas province (-7.3%) and 73,254 from Santa Cruz de Tenerife province (+15.59%). Compliance sentences account for 98.04% of the total sentences issued by judicial bodies, compared to 84.48% in 2022.
Minor offences have decreased in comparison to the previous year. For this reason, the senior prosecutor of the Canary Islands advocated for the establishment of alternative conflict resolution frameworks in the autonomous community, such as restorative justice or mediation, at least as trial initiatives.
With respect to court proceedings, a decline has been observed, indicating that judicial bodies are regaining stability following the Covid-19 pandemic and demonstrating a stabilisation in the number of cases conducted by these bodies.
In terms of crime trends, crimes against life and personal integrity have increased overall in the province of Las Palmas, although intentional homicides have decreased. Conversely, in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, intentional homicides have seen a significant rise, increasing from 38 in 2022 to 60 in 2023, effectively doubling.
Offences pertaining to sexual freedom in all their forms exhibit an upward trend, particularly in the province of Tenerife, while crimes against property and the socioeconomic order remain considerably significant across all judicial statistics. Specifically, in the province of Las Palmas, 32,556 proceedings were initiated, with 9,241 in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
As in previous reports, María Farnés Martínez explained that there is a “deeply entrenched” situation regarding delays and the quality of reports. In this context, she noted that in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, there exists only one office for the preparation of psychosocial assessments, meaning that when parties request such assessments in any judicial district, they are required to pay for them, despite having a right to an official report.
GENDER VIOLENCE.
Concerning domestic violence, there has been a rise in activity across both prosecutor’s offices, particularly in the volume of criminal proceedings initiated. In the province of Las Palmas, a significant number of offences are occurring due to breaches of sentences and precautionary measures as a result of resumed cohabitation, indicating that these protective measures are failing to achieve their intended objectives.
In Santa Cruz de Tenerife province, the expansion of jurisdiction granted to courts handling violence against women has resulted in facilities for victims being “entirely inadequate”, meaning that “there is a lack of privacy for them at the time of testifying, as well as when consulting with their lawyers or technicians”.
Moreover, the comprehensive evaluation units specialised in violence against women are still not operational in Tenerife, leaving on-duty prosecutors without the necessary assessments to gauge the level of danger, relying instead solely on reports from the Police, IASS, or technicians. The Victim Assistance Office remains inactive, which inadvertently favours the perpetrator, as many women are unaware of their entitled resources or available aid, leading to cases in which they retract their complaints or return to live with their aggressors, believing it to be the most advantageous course of action, as indicated by the senior prosecutor.
