The Ministry of Social Welfare, through the Directorate General for Child and Family Protection, has relocated 333 unaccompanied foreign migrants under the age of 18, from El Hierro to Tenerife and Gran Canaria. In total, due to the recent surge in migration, 573 unaccompanied migrant minors have arrived on the westernmost Island.
To address this humanitarian emergency, the Ministry of Social Welfare has had to increase the number of available places on the island. When the legislature began, there were 140 places, but due to the continuous arrival of boats, which has intensified since the end of the summer, there are currently 240 unaccompanied foreign minors in island resources.
"We greatly appreciate the work being done by the organizations managing these resources and the support and solidarity shown by the island's population," said the Minister of Social Welfare, Candelaria Delgado, who emphasized that the migrant minors are receiving excellent care.
The transfers to other islands are ongoing, to have only around 50 minors remaining in El Hierro so that integration efforts can be focused. To continue with these relocations, the Directorate General for Child and Family Protection plans to transfer at least 100 more of them next week.
Currently, over 3,000 unaccompanied migrant minors are under the care of the Canary Islands Government, which now has 51 centres distributed across the islands, an increase of 12 since the new team took office.
Transfers to Other Regions of Spain:
Despite repeated requests from the regional government to the state, the Canary Islands continue to bear the brunt of caring for these minors almost single-handedly. "Since 2021, only 365 minors have been transferred to other regions of Spain, a blatantly insufficient number given the situation we are in.”
“We have repeatedly asked the state not to rely on the solidarity of the autonomous communities, which have their own realities, and to assume its responsibility. We need national legislation on the care of unaccompanied migrant minors arriving in Spain," emphasized Delgado.
"To ensure the integration of all these minors, the Canary Islands Government cannot oversee more than 3,000 boys and girls. Therefore, we urge the central government to genuinely care about the life projects of these young people, to establish a fair distribution that allows us to provide them with comprehensive care," she concluded.
Next week, the Sectorial Conference on Childhood and Adolescence will take place, where the transfer of unaccompanied foreign minors to other autonomous communities will once again be discussed. In the previous commission, the Director General for Child and Family Protection, Sandra Rodríguez, expressed gratitude for the support of the autonomous communities but urged the state to adopt national regulations regarding unaccompanied foreign minors.
Declaration of Social Emergency:
The Ministry of Social Welfare published an order on Friday in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (BOC) declaring a social emergency and prioritizing the situation of unaccompanied foreign minors.
In light of the situation in the Canary Islands with unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents, the Directorate General for Child and Family Protection of the Canary Islands Government has developed a contingency plan that includes, among other measures, this emergency declaration. It provides legal coverage for the opening of necessary emergency facilities to accommodate them.
The declaration of emergency streamlines procedures to carry out all necessary administrative actions to provide spaces and care for the dozens of unaccompanied foreign minors who are arriving on the islands every day.
