The regional government of the Canary Islands stated this Monday that the response structures for immigrants who arrive to the archipelago irregularly are under “maximum pressure”, “they are beginning to be exhausted” and requested the activation of the European civil protection mechanism.
The Spanish Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic, off the western African coast, have been facing for weeks a surge in arrivals of precarious boats with hundreds of people on board.
Last weekend alone, more than 1,600 people arrived in the Canary Islands through this route.
The spokesperson for the regional government, Alfonso Cabello, stated this Monday that the islands’ response structures have been under “maximum pressure” for “many consecutive days” and “are beginning to be exhausted.”
For this reason, this Monday the Executive has asked the national Government to request the European Union (EU) to activate the Community Civil Protection Mechanism, as revealed by the spokesperson.
This European mechanism allows more funds and means to be mobilized to respond to the migration phenomenon, stated Alfonso Cabello, who added that the regional executive “still does not realize” that the Spanish Government, headed by the socialist Pedro Sánchez, is “giving this the highest priority.”
Alfonso Cabello referred, in particular, to the situation of the more than four thousand unaccompanied immigrant minors who are in the Canary Islands.
The spokesperson called for a permanent and continuous solidarity mechanism between the autonomous communities throughout Spain to welcome these minors and recalled, in this sense, that 12 days ago an agreement was reached for the distribution of 347 of these children and young people among the communities. but “in four days 400 arrive.”
Thus, “there is no response according to their needs,” said the spokesperson for the regional government, a coalition formed by the Canarian Coalition and the Popular Party (PP, right).
Between January 1 and October 15, 23,537 people arrived in the Canary Islands in precarious boats and in an irregular situation, a figure only surpassed by that of the whole of 2006 (31,678 immigrants), according to data from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior. .
In the first half of October alone, Spanish authorities recorded the arrival of 8,561 people to the archipelago, 79% more than in the same period last year.
During 2022 and the first half of 2023, the so-called “Canary migratory route”, one of the most dangerous on the African continent, seemed to show signs of stabilization or even a decrease in the number of arrivals.
Last year, 15,682 arrivals were recorded, 30% less than in 2021. This year, between January and the end of May, these figures revealed a decrease of 47% (from 8,268 to 4,406) compared to the same period in 2021.
However, in the summer months the downward trend changed and the number of arrivals began to increase.
Spain is one of the European countries that manages the largest number of entries of irregular immigrants into Europe, through the Mediterranean coasts and the Canary and Balearic archipelagos.
According to Government data, immigrant arrivals to the peninsula and the Balearic Islands (located in the Mediterranean) also increased this year, compared to 2022, but the growth is less than what is occurring in the Canary Islands.
The Minister of Internal Administration of Spain, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, announced last week the reinforcement, for a month and a half, of the surveillance of the coasts of Senegal and Mauritania, in collaboration with the authorities of these two African countries, to avoid The departure of boats with immigrants heading to the Canary Islands.
The minister attributed the increase in arrivals to the Canary Islands to the “destabilization of the Sahel” and defended, in line with what the Spanish Government has repeatedly said, cooperation, in various areas, with the countries of origin and transit of illegal immigration. .
Fernando Grande-Marlaska also stated that Spain has strengthened infrastructure and human resources in recent years to welcome immigrants to the Canary Islands.
On the same day, the Spanish Immigration and Refugee Assistance Network organization filed a complaint with the Ombudsman against the Secretary of State for Migration “for its inaction and lack of reinforcements” in the face of the spike in immigrant arrivals to the Canary Islands.
According to the non-governmental organization (NGO), in the Canary Islands there is “continuous chaos” that has already caused “very serious” situations, such as overcrowding of people in “unsanitary areas” and other “temporary spaces that have deteriorated.”
In addition to the migrants who reach the Spanish coasts, hundreds die at sea.
Nearly a thousand people died in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic in the first six months of this year when trying to reach Spain from North Africa, according to another NGO, Caminhando Fronteiras.
Source: TSF
