The Government warns the Prosecutor’s Office that the new reception plan for migrant minors from the Canary Islands “puts children’s rights at risk”

2024-09-14 11:28:59

The Ministry of Youth and Children has sent a report to the Office of the Youth Prosecutor in which it warns about the potential impact of the protocol approved by the Government of the Canary Islands regarding the acceptance of unaccompanied migrant minors. The Ministry points out that the measures imposed by the Canary Executive could seriously violate the fundamental rights of children who arrive on the coasts of the autonomous community, and be contrary to Spanish legislation and international agreements for the protection of children.

This Thursday, the Government of the Canary Islands, made up of the Canary Alliance and the Popular Party, announced this protocol, which introduces a series of prerequisites for the entry of migrant minors into the regional reception system. These requirements include, for example, the individual identification of minors, their registration in the Registry of Unaccompanied Minors (RMENA) and the issuance of an administrative resolution by the State, all of this before children can access the protection services of the autonomous community.

According to the Government of the Canary Islands, the purpose of the plan is to avoid the disorder that has dominated the process so far and to guarantee the “necessary organization” of the children for their “immediate attention.” However, the Ministry of Youth and Children expressed its concern about the possible consequences of this protocol and warns the Prosecutor’s Office that “with this step, the Canary Islands put the rights of children and adolescents in danger in danger.” , according to sources from the Sira Rego Ministry.

“[El protocolo] “which violates Article 39.4 of the Spanish Constitution, which states that children will benefit from the protection provided for in international agreements that protect their rights,” recalls the organization. “It amounts to a violation of the rights of minors by limiting their protection to the autonomous territory, a violation of the rights recognized by the CRC and not taking proactive action to guarantee the well-being of the minor as much as the action of the Autonomous Community. Community, clear action emerges that reduces the effectiveness of the rights of minors”

According to the report, the new measures delay the protection of minors and, as a result, limit the effectiveness of their rights at a time when they are particularly vulnerable. This situation, say the sources of the Ministry, is contrary to the obligation of public powers to act proactively to guarantee the well-being of minors in all cases, and they criticize that the protocol of the Canary Islands may be in breach of the Statute of Self-Government of the Canary Islands. . , which gives the Autonomous Community exclusive jurisdiction over the protection of minors.

The Prosecutor’s Office itself has already warned the Canary Government that it will report a crime of abandonment if it does not welcome the migrant minors. In a decree issued last Friday, the senior prosecutor of the Canary Islands, María Farnés Martínez, gave instructions to the prosecutors of the archipelago on how to act in the event that the forces and security bodies of the State inform them of the “refusal of the General. The Directorate for Child Protection” to host a migrant child in a center of the Autonomous Community, as soon as the minor is “appropriately reviewed” according to the 2014 national protocol.

“The Prosecutor’s Office will be able to tell us where we have to take these unaccompanied minors”

Meanwhile, the vice president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Manuel Domínguez (PP), denied this Saturday that unaccompanied migrant minors are or will be in situations of abandonment, and promised that the regional Executive will comply with instructions from the Prosecutor’s Office . “The Prosecutor’s Office will be able to tell us where we are going to take these unaccompanied minors and if we are fully available to continue taking care of these children, I don’t know if the care that is they deserve they deserve it, but it’s something we will never do. to abandon them,” he declared before presiding over a meeting of the regional board of directors of the PP, as reported by EFE.

The vice-president of the Canary Islands has emphasized that his Government only wants to “obey the law”. Until now, they say, the National Police handed over the minors to the NGOs that were in charge of their reception through a list, a type of “group delivery” without identification that led to “identity confusion” mix. Domínguez has said that the aim of the plan is to “stop doing things as they have been doing until now” and that the migrant minors would be handed over by the Police, not to the NGOs, but to an official of the autonomous community and “in a way. individually, with a photo, fingerprint, name, identification, and that we know exactly where that minor is going.”

The new protocol has been published amid growing tension between the Government of the Canary Islands and central government over responsibility for the management of unaccompanied migrant minors. The Canary Islands Executive defends the need to establish controls of this type to avoid a greater saturation in the reception centers, which currently house more than 5,300 minors. The Spanish Government, on the other hand, is reviewing the protocol with its legal services to verify if it invades the exclusive powers of the State, such as the guardianship of migrant minors, as the Minister for Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory announced on Thursday. , Ángel Víctor. Torres emphasized the importance of coordinating responsibilities.

The Canary Islands plan has also sparked opposition from Podemos, which believes it is “out of place” and will create “helpless situations” for children, by “putting bureaucracy in front of their protection”. “We Canarias defends comprehensive protection from the first moment without bureaucratic issues that imply harm or violation of the rights of migrant children,” the organization said in a statement on Friday.