The thousands of people who have lived, sometimes for decades, in the agricultural settlements of the strawberry areas of Huelva and those linked to the development of the greenhouses in Níjar (Almería) suffer from extraordinary vulnerability and their children have schooling problems. This is how the NGO puts it Andalusia Welcomes in a new report presented this Thursday, titled Situation of people residing in agricultural settlements in Andalusia: milestones since 2023.
“The need for labor,” reads the work, “the persistence of a business practice, not the majority but relevant, that normalizes the generation of precariousness as part of its externalitiescombined with the lack of residential solutions adequate and accessible for migrant workers, has led to the establishment and growth of these settlements in which these people live in extremely precarious conditions.
In general, the majority of people residing in the settlements of Huelva are temporary, that is, they come and go, although it is estimated that between 30% and 40% could live there permanently.
In Almería, where different growing cycles overlap, the population is not temporary, but has become a permanent presence.
For 35 years, its volume has been increasing, and the type of informal settlement has changed. “They have located where they could: shacks, vertical settlements, farmhouses, garages, among others…”
The passage of time, instead of improving their living conditions, has led to chronic problems: “They have been the same for decades.” For Jose Miguel Moralesgeneral director of the NGO, “are part of the structural housing crisis that we are experiencing. [Estos trabajadores] suffer the extreme point of a structural problem. This then affects their social and health rights…”
The work identifies several areas where problems exist. Follows a summary of the main issues which the report highlights.
Underreporting
Few things exemplify vulnerability better than the virtual impossibility of reporting abuse. According to Andalucía Acoge, there is a problem of under-reporting, due to various factors.
Among them are the fear of expulsion from the country: Entering a police station could “put them on the radar of the authorities, which could lead to deportation.”
Also the fear of losing your job: “The possibility of losing your job, even if it is poorly paid and under exploitative conditions, can be a significant barrier to reporting. The asymmetric power in the employment relationship between the companies that employ and migrant workers in an irregular situation amplifies these dynamics of coercion”.
There is also, according to the NGO, a lack of knowledge about your rights legal barriers, linguistic barriers and a distrust in the security forces, which leads to a situation of “helplessness and resignation.”
Walili eviction
Regarding the eviction of the Walili, Andalucía Acoge makes the following considerations: “Although the City Council presents the action in a positive way as a step towards improving the living conditions of the residents, the opinion of the affected population has not been adequately taken into account“.
Furthermore, “the proposed housing solutions do not fully respond to the needs of the population, since the new housing sites are located far from their places and have not always accepted people in an irregular administrative situation.
“This generates – continues the NGO – new problems, such as difficulties in transportation and higher travel costs, which negatively affects the quality of life of the population. For this reason, they sometimes settle in other informal settlements where there is less visibility and therefore less urgency in its dismantling”.
Fires
This phenomenon, in which the elimination of shacks without a real residential alternative simply implies movements between settlements, is also observed in Huelva, where every two by three fires destroy settlements: “Between April 2020 and May 2024, 22 fires have been recorded affecting a total of 2,816 people, resulting in dozens of people injured and three dead.”
An example of what happens is in Palos de la Frontera in one of the most populated settlements, about 850 people, 600 men and 250 women. After the last fire, The City Council prevented the reconstruction of the shacks: “Currently, 40 people remain there and it is estimated that the rest have moved to Lucena del Puerto to a settlement very far from the town and services.”
The fires have a very diverse casuistryaccording to Andalucía Acoge: “Flammable materials in the construction of the shanties, the lack of adequate infrastructure for the supply of water and electricity, or the use of unsafe methods to cook and obtain heat in the shanties.”
There are also new settlements in Almonte and Rociana del Condado: “It is an indication that the prohibition without offering solutions maintains precariousness and only contributes to displacing substandard housing to new territories.”
twitching
Andalucía Acoge states that there exists “tension or tension” in the settlements and links it to a significant reduction in subsidies to the social entities that work there.
“This decrease in funds for direct care,” the report states, “implies that some People’s essential needs are not being adequately met and there is a certain tension and even refusal to participate in training activities, which have as their objective the acquisition of awareness about their violation of rights.
Minors out of school
“Every year, Romanian families with minors arrive in April and May for the strawberry campaign. Despite the interest of the Local Administration, These minors are not enrolled in school.and although the problem is reported to the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office, the intervention usually arrives in July, when the population is no longer present.”
Mafias to register
The vulnerability of the population is seen especially when they lack papers. “The people residing in settlements with which Huelva Acoge intervenes express the existence of organized networks that profit from this need, identifying the charging of up to 600 euros for registrations and larger amounts to be negotiated for irregular employment contracts”.
Involvement of administrations
As a positive element, although cautiously, the NGO assures that for “the first time in decades”, There are administrations that assume they are competent to resolve the situation, which propose solution initiatives. “This is a very important step: they will never again be able to say that they do not have powers“says Morales.
There is, however, the risk that this involvement will not be fully realized nor in a realistic manner and in accordance with the real problems and the character and needs of the population and will remain in borage water.
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