Representatives of local and regional authorities from across the European Union have received a first-hand account of what life is like as a teenage migrant staying in the Canaries after arriving from Africa.
Members of the influential CIVEX Commission of Europe’s Committee of the Regions accepted an invitation from the Canarian government to hold their external conference in Tenerife this week and are devoting today’s second session to a discussion of how cities and regions can play a greater role in protecting and integrating the young arrivals.
Over a hundred members of the Commission – from countries ranging from Sweden in the north to Greece in the south and from political parties covering the full spectrum – took the opportunity yesterday to visit two facilities used to house the unaccompanied teenagers in Tenerife and hear from staff about the challenges of providing quality care in centres which are currently overcrowded due to the sheer number of arrivals.
As reported here, the Canarian government is embroiled in a heated political battle with the Spanish government over the redistribution of the teenagers to other parts of the country to alleviate the ongoing crisis in the Canaries.
The European representatives heard yesterday how the number of migrant arrivals in El Hierro every year can triple the resident population of the tiny island that remains the favoured landing spot for the boats.
Addressing the CIVEX representatives at an official dinner last night, a Canarian government minister urged Europe to involve itself more in a growing problem which concerns everyone and not just the Canary Islands, which “have felt very alone” until now as they try and tackle the phenomenon with limited resources.
Earlier, the mayor of Las Palmas, Carolina Darias – who is a deputy-chair of the CIVEX Commission – said that “cities and regions are in the front line of migrant management but participate much less than they would like in political decisions”.
