SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 1 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The president of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Gustavo Matos, this Friday valued the “rapid response” of the European Union to welcome Ukrainian refugees but stressed that “they are not the only ones” fleeing wars, hunger or seeking new opportunities to have a “dignified life”.
At the opening of the conference ‘The framework of the European pact on migration and asylum and the situation of unaccompanied migrant children in RUP territories’, he pointed out that the Canary Islands are experiencing an “unsustainable situation” in the reception of migrant minors and the archipelago “does not cannot and should not deal alone with abandoned children”.
Thus, he pointed out that the Canary Islands is a “RUP territory and southern border” of the EU and migrants “risk their lives and they do it because they want to reach Europe”, hence demanding a “commitment” on the continent, as than with the rest of the autonomous communities.
Matos has commented that the arrival of migrants to the Canary Islands almost daily reminds the islands of their proximity to Africa, so it is necessary to have a “special sensitivity” to deal with this phenomenon, even due to historical similarity, giving the example of the “dramatic” Canarian trip to America aboard the ‘Telémaco’. “It is a symbol of Canarian emigration and it should not be forgotten”, he added.
Likewise, he has warned of a “dangerous tendency to criminalize immigration” that is also “taking hold” because “it is a reality” that the extreme right “makes its way” into the institutions. “We have no excuse for not being activists of tolerance, coexistence and respect, today it is about criminalizing the migratory phenomenon”, she has indicated.
