The expression “mandatory solidarity” has featured this Friday in the fleeting mini-summit immigration in the Canary Islands between several ministers, the autonomous government and the European Commissioner for the Interior. Ylva Johansson has stated before the media in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria that she trusts that the Council and the EU Parliament will accept in the negotiations on the Migration and Asylum Pact this Monday and Tuesday that “obligatory solidarity” will be achieved between Member States that help alleviate the migratory pressure suffered by countries like Spain and Italy. “The Canary Islands are not alone; “Spain is not alone,” the commissioner stated. “We are together, European responsibility demands a European response” to confront the “deadliest” migratory route that exists, and in which, according to the calculations she herself offered, at least 7,500 lives have been lost since 2020.
And other participants, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Minister of Territorial Policy, the Canarian Ángel Víctor Torres, have also referred to the same idea, but applied to the autonomous communities. Mandatory solidarity to welcome unaccompanied migrant minors who arrive in the Canary Islands, both assured, is also in the plans of the Spanish Executive. “This circumstance is stated in the investiture pact” between the PSOE and the Canarian Coalition, the Minister of the Interior recalled. “And it will be the seat of Parliament that takes the floor.” The president of the Canary Islands, in fact, has explained that the Executive is preparing a proposal that will culminate at the beginning of 2024
The celebration of the meeting in the Canary Islands, in which the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, also participated; and the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, responds to the unprecedented rise in arrivals that has been registered in the archipelago in 2023 (35,410 people in the first 11 months). The focus was on the situation of the nearly 5,000 migrant minors in the Canary Islands, which has overwhelmed the regional Executive – which holds their guardianship – and which costs the regional coffers nine million euros per month. “And that, without taking into account the plans for its integration,” Clavijo stated.
During the joint appearance before the media this Friday, Grande-Marlaska highlighted the collaborative efforts with other countries to contain the route. According to their data, in the last two months 46% of arrivals have been prevented from reaching the Canary Islands after intercepting 59 cayucos with 7,213 immigrants who had left the African coasts. This has been possible thanks to the two aerial means assigned to reinforce surveillance—one on the coast of Senegal and another in the Canary Islands—which the minister himself announced on his previous visit to the islands, in October. The new Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Pensions, Elma Saiz, has announced that the Sectoral Conference on Migration will be held before the end of the year.
This Friday's meeting was originally scheduled for November 20, although it was suspended due to the lack of a quorum of the representatives of the autonomous communities and cities, with less than half of those able to attend then. Elma Saiz has taken advantage of her first visit to the Canary Islands after taking office to thank the collaboration of the different administrations and social entities in managing the migration crisis. “I can assure you that, on this occasion, we have proceeded very effectively, thanks to a very reinforced and very humanitarian comprehensive reception network, since it has not only responded with a greater number of resources, but also with greatly improved protocols to detect victims.” trafficking, torture, gender violence, minors, etc.
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Currently, according to data from the Ministry of Inclusion, 2,400 people remain in the resources in the Canary Islands, approximately 35% of the capacity of the islands, some 14,000 transfers have been made to the Peninsula and the network (both of applicants for international protection and temporary, as in humanitarian care) welcomes 39,000 people throughout the territory.
Albares praises Senegal's help
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, traveled this Friday to Senegal and Mauritania to continue strengthening joint work on migration matters with both countries. In Dakar, where he met with President Macky Sall and his counterpart, Ismaila Fall, Albares assured that, at the request of the Senegalese authorities, Spanish development cooperation will emphasize the training of young people and, specifically, their job training. “They are very satisfied with the priorities we have, such as rural development or gender equality and women's empowerment, but Senegal has an overwhelming percentage of the population under 25 years of age and they are asking us to also focus on vocational training ”.
In this sense, Albares highlighted that after the migratory “rebound” last summer, the number of arrivals to the Canary Islands “is already beginning to decrease.” In this sense, he highlighted that the control work of the Senegalese Navy is “extraordinary” as well as the cooperation that exists with the Civil Guard and the National Police to intercept the departure of canoes. “What we cannot resign ourselves to is that thousands of young Senegalese people put their lives at risk on the most dangerous route to Europe, which is the Canary Islands route (…) We also cannot allow Senegal to decapitalize on its youth and that is why I have heard with great attention that request to allocate a part of our cooperation to school farms and vocational training.”
The minister recalled the causes that, in his opinion, have contributed to the increase in the departure of canoes from Senegal, such as the impact of covid-19, the rise in energy prices due to the war in Ukraine, the instability in the Sahel and the high percentage of young population. “Senegal has the political will to continue intensifying surveillance, for which they need material resources,” he noted.
During his meeting with Macky Sall, Albares congratulated him for refusing to run for a third term “for what he demonstrates commitment to democracy, alternation and stability.” Senegal holds presidential elections on February 25 and is immersed in a deep political crisis: the main opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, has been in prison since August convicted of a crime of “corruption of youth” while his political party, the Pastef was banned for “calls for insurrection and terrorism” during the violent demonstrations that preceded the imprisonment of its leader and which cost the lives of fifty people.
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