SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, March 10. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The coordinator of CEAR in the Canary Islands, Juan Carlos Lorenzo, has described this Thursday as “erroneous and failed” the migration policy that has generated an “unprecedented humanitarian crisis” in the Canary Islands due to a “late” response and that only focuses on what urgent.
“We have not learned anything or very little, it is a burden that we have to get rid of,” he said in an appearance before the parliamentary commission for the study of immigration in the Canary Islands in which he asked the deputies if they want the archipelago be “border space or neighborhood space”.
Along these lines, Lorenzo has called for a “complete model” of reception and inclusion that includes a capacity for foresight, dealing with the emotional damage of migrants and a “community and pedagogical approach” so that the host populations participate and learn the advantages of a intercultural coexistence.
He has said that the European Union (EU) has spent more than 20 years configuring the island and border territories as spaces for “containment of people” under the premise of “the farther the better” and promoting the “dehumanization” of people migrants, with the “high risk” of generating racism and xenophobia in local societies.
Lorenzo has charged against the ‘Plan Canarias’ of the Ministry of Migration because it is an “insufficient and unsustainable” alternative that only seeks an “answer to the immediate” without having a “long look”, with the difficulties posed by the macro-camps to carry out Social insertion.
Faced with these structures, he has defended the model that is applied to migrant women — with arrivals on the rise and this year they already account for 20% — in small “kinder” venues that allow for better social interventions.
THE SITUATION OF MINORS IS “UNSUSTAINABLE”
Thus, he pointed out that “the debate is impoverished by the immediate” and wonders why migratory movements have a “pejorative” vision when it is shown that they “enrich” the territories, hence claiming an “orderly, regular and safe” migration “, giving as an example the temporary campaigns.
In the case of unaccompanied migrant minors, it has recognized that the situation on the islands is “unsustainable” to the point that “it is not taken care of with the guarantee of rights it deserves”, criticizing the model of “voluntary solidarity” between the autonomous communities.
Lorenzo has appealed to “lobby” on social issues as is the case with the economic sectors in order to “align” the measures of all public administrations so that they are “efficient” and detects a “coordination deficit” with the third sector.
In addition, he has assessed that the transit permits to the Peninsula have “oxygenated” the situation and prevent migrants from becoming “chronic” in the camps and has requested the design of campaigns that “disavow” hate crimes and xenophobia.
The CEAR coordinator also sees a “mistake” to reduce migration policy “to counting arrivals” because the causes must be analyzed, since some arrive seeking asylum and others due to “impoverishment” or as a result of the economic crisis that started the pandemic in Morocco or Senegal. .
He has detailed that last year there were more than 5,400 asylum seekers in the Canary Islands but only 8% came from African countries, something that he has attributed to the fact that they did not have the possibility of doing so because a lawyer and an interpreter are needed. “There are unfortunate situations,” she commented.
“NON-EXISTENT” VISA POLICY
Along these lines, he has said that the visa policy is practically “non-existent” and “almost impossible” in the case of Africa and has put on the table the “selective empathy” of the special agreement for refugees from Ukraine when the Syrians or Afghans.
In his opinion, until now “there has been no political will” something that connects with the European asylum pact that “is harmful” because it guides the border territories to contain people.
Likewise, he has criticized that the EU has “commodified the rights of migrants” with agreements with countries “little respectful” of their compliance, such as Morocco, Turkey or Libya. “They are interior policies, not inclusion policies,” she commented.
Lorenzo has also demanded from the Government of the Canary Islands a “more transversal” vision of migration and has lamented the “little operational” of the Canary Islands Migration Forum, which he believes should be oriented towards smaller and more technical work teams.
