The Canary Islands Government and the Ministry of Migration have agreed to accelerate the transfer of minors seeking international protection to alleviate the overcrowding in centers in the archipelago. The transfer will take place this Saturday, August 16.
Five minors from Mali, currently at the Canarias 50 center, will leave next Saturday, August 16, for a state-run center on the Iberian Peninsula. The decision was made at an urgent meeting held this Friday between the Canary Islands government and the Ministry of Migration, convened by the regional government's demand to expedite referrals due to the overcrowding of reception centers in the archipelago.
At the same meeting, it was established that next week, on August 21 or 22, another group consisting of ten male children and between five and ten girls will be released, depending on the pace of the latter's evaluations. The girls will be examined by a team from Engloba and technicians from the General Directorate for the Protection of Children and Families.
This new agreement comes after the State announced last Tuesday that there would be no more referrals this week, despite a Supreme Court ruling clearly establishing the central government's obligation to take care of minors under international protection. The Canary Islands have reiterated that the Ministry's action must be more agile, given that the pressure on reception centers is already unsustainable. If the planned schedule is met, by the end of next week, between 25 and 30 minors will have left the Canary Islands, out of the 1.070 under the Canary Islands' guardianship within the National Reception System for International Protection (SNAPI).
