The system to protect migrant childhood that Canary Islands arrives has ” failed ”. A report published by Amnesty International denounces the violations of human rights suffered by children and adolescents in the islands after surviving the most fatal route in the world. Cases of violence in reception centers, errors in the identification of minors, failures in processing in the documentation or insufficient inspections in resources are some of the deficiencies collected in this document.
Amnesty International advocates the transfer of young people to other communities to alleviate the saturation of the Canary Islands Protection Network. However, while closing this political agreement that has been blocked for months, “ the own procedures must be reviewed and improved, ”, as well as the coordination between the different administrations that have responsibilities in this area in the Autonomous Community. The objective is to fully guarantee the rights of children and inces who are in their territory and that their future perspectives do not compromise. ”
From the humanitarian emergency that Canary Islands lived in 2020, the regional government has opted for the emergency route to open reception centers. This tool, which allows to adjudicate contracts quickly, has resulted in the creation of large devices where up to 300 minors coexist under conditions reported by the usuals, entities and workers, as published by this newspaper.
” Such high ratios prevent homes for children who welcome, elaborate individualized educational programs for each child, detect minors with specific needs or with situations of vulnerability, ” they acknowledged from the General Directorate of Childhood to Amnesty International. However, the organization warns in its report that there have been siutations of violence by workers towards minors within the centers.
” These complaints imply the lack of adequate control or inspection of their operation by the competent administrations. ” In this line, Amnesty International echoes an investigation published by the Canary Islands now. Between 2020 and 2024, the Ministry of Social Welfare had carried out only 28 inspections, according to the data obtained after an application for access to public information in December 2024.
Gran Canaria was the island with more inspections, with 22. In Lanzarote there were only three, all of them the same day, in addition. And in Tenerife also three. Of all the centers visited, only one repeated: the so -called The Brozoslocated in Santa Brígida, with two checks on August 4, 2020 and September 29, 2024. Some workers with whom they could talk about this wording added that many of the inspections ” are notified ”. ” They are a paripé, ” a social worker from Gran Canaria acknowledged.
The lack of training of workers is another of the weak points indicated by the professionals of the sector themselves. This is also collected by Amnesty International, who points out that in some cases he comes to hire “ Dickoteca goalkeepers’ ‘, as recognized by the foreigners’ prosecutor of Las Palmas to the organization.
At the time of the writing of this report, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Canary Islands had open four investigations for alleged abuse and abuse, two in the province of Las Palmas and two others in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Therefore, the organization concludes that the Government of the Canary Islands must guarantee an inspection and control system of the centers, as well as enable mechanisms to channel the complaints of violence against minors. Along these lines, it states that the Prosecutor’s Office must also make periodic visits and not announced to resources.
Failures in documentation processing
The organization also focuses on system failures to guarantee the identifying documentation that facilitates the minor its integration into society. The report recalls that the Foreigners Law establishes that, at the request of the guardianship agency, a residence permit in Spain will be granted. However, as the entity alerts, there are minors who meet the age of majority and leave the welcoming centers without papers.
According to the report, a person from a non -governmental organization told Amnesty International “his concern” about the existence of reception centers in which the procedures for obtaining documentation within the regulatory period and that, in part, was due to the staff of the centers and their qualification were not initiated. ” The testimony of a young man from the report indicates that his documentation was denied because it was requested outside the deadline: “When I left the Children’s Center, no one informed me of anything, even that they would unsubscribe my registration and withdraw my health card.”
Other obstacles in the processing of the papers are the waiting and the bureaucracy. According to the testimony of a social worker collected in the report, “almost 50% of minors are left without documentation because of the delays in the process.” In addition, people who work in the reception of minors denounce that they are “immersed in a bureaucratic tangle” that makes it difficult to obtain the residence and work permit for minors. “When minors get the necessary documentation, this is waiting in a drawer,” details one of the testimonies.
Amnesty International emphasizes the situation of girls, since they are in a situation of greater vulnerability due to the shortage of resources for them once they cease to be under the protection of the administration. “In some cases we process the request for international protection, but sometimes there are no places in the devices for asylum applicants, with the risk that they end up ending in a street situation, being more vulnerable to possible cases of sexual exploitation,” said the director of a center that houses girls in Tenerife.
Violation of the right to asylum
On the other hand, Amnesty International also alerts a possible violation of the right to the asylum of minors who have migrated alone. The entity emphasizes that ACNUR has already stated that “more than 50% of migrant childhood that arrives in the Canary Islands could be in need of international protection.” However, he points out that during his monitoring in the islands he has been able to verify “uncoordination and lack of homogeneous criteria” in his processing.
The report includes the testimony of a young Malian who arrived with 15 years and spent three years in a minors center without anyone processing asylum or documentation. “Today I have nothing, or passport, or anything … Without documentation I cannot do any course, they are telling me that they will try to get me documentation for roots … but at the psychological level this does not help me, ”says the young man.
Identification errors
Amnesty International fears that the figure of foreign minors is greater than the Canary Authorities recognized. According to the testimony of a worker in the field of immigration management and is collected in the document, “there are no reliable data of how much unaccompanied migrant childhood is reaching the Canary Islands.” The report reveals that even the Ministry of Migration has recognized the existence of minors in the camps and that there are many boys who are being identified with posterity in the Peninsula. In this sense, the document details that the Junta de Andalucía came to protect more than 500 minors who had been transferred from the Canary Islands as adults between October 2023 and September 2024.20: 02
The entity is also concerned about young people who identify as minors and live in adult camps. As detailed in the report, the foreigner prosecutor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife knew that “at the root camp there were at least 300 minors; While it fell importance to this fact because, he explained, the situation was then remedied. ”
Cheikh is a young Senegalese who is in the roots and told Amnesty International that when he arrived at El Hierro last year he told the police that he was a minor. “They ignored me, they put me with the rest of the adults, I have also said it here, they have signed up on a list, but for the moment I continue to sleep in the tents with the elders.”
Therefore, the entity emphasizes the importance of a correct first identification since even a simple failure, such as putting the date of birth, can have a great impact on the child’s life. The report detailed the case of three minors with an appearance of 12 or 13 years that the police put in their chips that were 17 years old. In a few months, young people will have to leave the reception system.
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