UNHCR calls on parliamentarians for responsibility sharing to strengthen protection of unaccompanied migrant and refugee children reaching Canary Islands

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in Spain has addressed parliamentary groups to express its concern for the plight of unaccompanied minors arriving by sea in the Canary Islands, among whom there are also refugees, and to call for reinforced solutions in line with their protection needs.

Among those reaching the archipelago from the West and North Africa coasts, there is a significant percentage of unaccompanied children and adolescents, currently estimated by the Canary Islands government at 5,700. UNHCR’s Representative in Spain, Sophie Muller, sent a letter last Friday (5th July) to the spokespersons of the parliamentary groups in the Congress, asking them to address the particularly vulnerable situation of this group. Muller called for responsibility sharing and guaranteeing respect for the minor’s rights. 

As part of the efforts to address the situation, the UN Refugee Agency, in collaboration with the Canary Islands Department of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Children and Families, conducted 576 interviews with children and adolescents in 37 children's centers. The aim of the study carried out between February and April, was knowing about their profiles, giving them a voice, and identifying areas that need to be strengthened in the protection response.

The findings of this exercise revealed that at least 55% of the children interviewed could be in need of international protection. The profiling identified children who had fled armed conflicts, such as the one in Mali, who have suffered human rights violations, sexual and gender-based violence, including female genital mutilation or forced and early marriage, or who suffer persecution for belonging to the LGBTIQ+ group. Although this percentage cannot be extrapolated to the total number of minors arriving in the Canary Islands, it does indicate that there is a high number who could be refugees and should be channeled through an agile and effective asylum procedure.

"The particularly vulnerable profile of this group requires a decisive, stable and predictable response for all children and adolescents, including those in need of international protection," said Muller, indicating that the response must be inspired by and in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. "Identifying their specific needs and their international protection needs is essential to ensure the best interests of these children and to prevent them from being exposed to new and increased risk situations," added the UNHCR Representative in Spain.

To reinforce the protection of refugee children, UNHCR signed a protocol with the Canary Islands Department of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Children and Families on 27 June aimed at supporting professionals in identifying the international protection needs of refugee children, as well as their monitoring. This protocol has been developed under the working group called “Asylum and Minors Referrals”, led by the UN Refugee Agency team in Spain, and made up of representatives of the Directorate General for the Protection of Children and Families, collaborating entities and local councils in the archipelago.

For almost a year now, there has been a considerable increase in arrivals by sea to the Canary Islands, with 19,500 people so far this year, mainly from Mali, Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco. These are mixed movements of migrants, who leave their countries due to lack of livelihood opportunities, poverty or the consequences of climate change, but also, refuges in a significant proportion, who have been forced to flee due to socio-political instability, conflicts, human rights violations or persecution. This situation is a reflection of the global context in which UNHCR has already recorded 120 million forcibly displaced persons, as per its latest Global Trends Report launched in June.

 The UNHCR Representative in Spain reiterated support for the proposals aimed at strengthening the protection system for unaccompanied children, to make it more predictable and sustainable. Muller also called on politicians to put the situation of unaccompanied children at the center, not from the point of view of political dynamics but from the perspective of their needs. "I would like to encourage them to work towards solutions based on international law and the European spirit of solidarity and shared responsibility, especially when it comes to such a sensitive issue as the protection of children," emphasized Muller, who offered UNHCR's cooperation for this purpose.