The authorities are calling for new measures to deal with the influx of migrants on the Canary coast.
The scene is almost daily. For more than a year, rescue services have been landing dozens of migrants in the Canaries who are trying to reach European soil from Africa.
A journey increasingly undertaken by minors aged barely 15, traveling alone. Babakar arrived in the Canary Islands from Senegal. Many of his traveling companions did not reach the coast.
“We left Senegal. The journey was quite difficult and many people died“, testifies Babakar.
Along with other boys, Babakar tries to overcome trauma in this reception center in Tenerife, where they learn Spanish and study with the dream of being able to work as adults.
“This is one of several centers that have been set up here in the Canary Islands to help unaccompanied minors. Up to 5,000 are now under the supervision of the Canary Islands government“, explains Jaime Velázquez, journalist at Euronews.
The authorities had to double the number of reception centers to cope with the influx of minors. Half of them will be transferred to the continent, but the southern border is looking to Europe for solutions.
“At one point we proposed the implementation of a family promotion program at the European Union level so that we can provide a response in which the States are involved“, explains Francisco Candil, Deputy Minister of Social Protection of the Government of the Canary Islands.
The new migration pact provides for the distribution of migrants to third EU countries, but the Spanish Party of the Conservatives and Reformists Group opposes the measure and calls for a total closure of borders.
“For VOX, state sovereignty is fundamental and if states want to have secure borders, it is necessary to block these borders. We can perfectly use our armed forces, for example, to propose a naval blockade“, estimates Paula Jover, deputy of the Vox party in the Canary Islands Parliament.
For his part, the Canary Coalition candidate demands action to tackle the causes of illegal immigration at its source and for the islands to become a platform for development cooperation.
“It is about tackling the origin and using regions like the Canary Islands, not only as a platform to contain the migratory phenomenon and provide resources to manage this problem, but also as a platform to Development Assistance“, claims Carlos Alonso, candidate for the European Parliament for the Canaries Coalition.
The European pact on migration and asylum was approved a few months before the renewal of the European Parliament, but its implementation will be conditioned by the result of the June elections. Meanwhile, the southern border is expected to break records this year, with 70,000 migrants arriving on the Canary coast.
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