The government presents a ‘in extremis’ protocol after two months without hosting minor refugees as requested by the Supreme | Spain

After two months of paralysis, the Government has raised a protocol to the Canary Islands to take care of the 1,200 minors who have requested asylum in the Canary Islands. The initiative, which the Executive raises as a sign of collaboration, arrives just one day before the central administration has to explain to the Supreme Court what it has done so far to comply With its March 25 car in which he gave him 10 days so that, given the overcrowding on the islands, he welcomed 1,200 asylum applicants in the state network.

The government sought to gain time, trusting that the transfers of thousands of minors who will go this summer will relieve the situation and no longer make a measure that the Executive considers that it does not compete. The Ministry of Territorial Policy sent the protocol this Wednesday officially and, although it had the complicity of the Government of Fernando Clavijo, the opposite has been found. « It is a unilateral protocol that does not guarantee the access or permanence of minors in the international protection reception system, » criticize sources of the Canarian Executive. « We are still surprised that one day before the view they have not registered in the state reception system to any of those minors, » they add.

The protocol, to which the country has had access, is still a draft that should now complement the legal services of the Canary Islands, but in the islands they do not see much margin of negotiation if the government does not move file. « We have nothing to negotiate until the state discharges in its reception system for all these minors, in compliance with the order of the Supreme, » warns sources of the Canarian government.

The reception of asylum seekers, Most teenagers who fled violence in Malihas become a cause in the Canary Islands. After committing to change the law to impose on autonomous communities That they take care of the minors who welcomed in the Canary Islands and Ceuta, the Clavijo executive opened a judicial front with the central government to attend to the boys and girls who have asked asylum or have stated that they want to do it. The issue causes a competence concurrence (the asylum corresponds to the State and those minors to the communities), but the Supreme Court decided that in this emergency situation both administrations could collaborate to guarantee the best interests of the minor.

The months have passed without significant advances And now it will be the Supreme Court. In this Thursday’s appointment, the Court will require the Government to inform you about the fulfillment of the March car. And specifically that the detailed relationship of minors who have already been evaluated individually in the scope of the National System of Reception of International Protection and, where appropriate, the reception resource assigned to them. If the system did not have sufficient resources, the Court warned, the “detail of the concrete initiatives” will be required that have been adopted to obtain them. Finally, the Supreme Court will require, precisely, the agreements or protocols arranged with the Canary Islands and the calendar for its execution. According to sources from both parties, this is the only point in which progress has been made more concrete.

The protocol, signed by three ministries, ensures that it aims to fulfill the order of the Supreme, but it is not concrete enough to assume that this may happen quickly. The document, in fact, conditions the process to the creation of another working group (there is already an interministerial to address this issue in Madrid) in which both administrations would work to analyze the needs and vulnerabilities of each minor and thus choose the reception resources. It also requires the Autonomous Community to provide essential documentation to initiate transfers (declaration of helplessness, age report, medical history, interviews …) and designate an « interlocutor organ » with the state -owned reception system. The protocol warns that if the condition of asylum applicant is lost, the minor will be reinstated to the regional system. « Each party will assume the cost of the measures that correspond to this protocol, » warns the document. And a safeguard is included that opens the door to future litigation in addition to the current one: « The content of this protocol must be understood without prejudice to the legitimation of the parties to raise at any time the judicial actions that understand that they agree with their right. »

The reception of asylum seekers in the Canary Islands promises to continue being a thorny issue between administrations. Although the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, has shown proactivity to reach a solution, the matter not only depends on it. According to knowledgeable sources of the negotiations, in the Ministry of Migrations they resist because they allege that their centers are not prepared to host minors, while in the interior the suspicion has been installed that a measure like this can lead to the Canary Government to encourage that minors ask for asylum and thus leave for the peninsula.