The Ombudsman (in office), Francisco Fernández Marugán, has addressed four recommendations to the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030 to improve the protection of unaccompanied foreign minors.
These children are of particular concern to the Ombudsman. In previous years it has drawn attention to their situation in Ceuta and Melilla, but currently the focus of the Ombudsman is on the Canary Islands, where nearly 3,000 children have arrived alone on its shores between 2020 and the first months of 2021. According to data provided by the Canary Islands child protection entity, in March, there were 2,577 sheltered children (2,110 in emergency arrangements and 467 in residential shelter).
Recently, the Institution has presented a monograph on migration in the Canary Islands which includes visits to centers where these minors are sheltered. Nevertheless, Fernández Marugán insists once again that “it is unreasonable for the Canary Islands child protection services to assume alone the challenge inherent to their reception” and calls on the Ministry of Social Rights to assume a driving role in dealing with this situation. Thus, it has formulated the following recommendations.
The Ombudsman has asked the aforementioned Ministry to develop the Strategic Multiyear Plan for the integration of unaccompanied foreign minors contemplated in the Law of Foreigners. According to the Ombudsman, this plan should take into account the rapid identification of international protection needs; the detection of potential victims of human trafficking; the procedure followed to determine age; the documentation of their legal residence and their socio-labor integration once they reach the legal age of
adulthood.
Fernández Marugán has also recommended that in the next program of the European Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, it should be established as a preferential line of action the necessary measures for the identification, reception and integration of
unaccompanied foreign minors in general and, in particular, for the identification and specialized protection of those who are in need of international protection or who present signs of human trafficking.
The Ombudsman has also requested the need to promote, in coordination with the rest of the competent bodies in this area, the necessary measures to ensure that the Central Registry of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors functions correctly. For years, the Ombudsman has been denouncing significant differences between the data provided by the regional child protection agencies and those offered by the Registry of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors.
On the other hand, it has requested that, in coordination with the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, it should promote the implementation of the mechanism foreseen in the Law of Foreigners, for the establishment of agreements with non-governmental organizations, foundations and entities dedicated to the protection of minors, with the purpose of attributing to them the ordinary guardianship of the most vulnerable unaccompanied foreign minors.
This approach, which has already been initiated by the Canary Islands child protection agency, is for the Ombudsman “a very necessary initiative and the most effective for the protection of the best interests of those minors in need of international protection or victims
of human trafficking, who require more specialized attention”. In this sense, he points out that it is “striking” that as of December 31, 2020, there were more than 500 Malian minors in the Canary protection system, but none had applied for asylum.
The last point Fernández Marugán wanted to draw attention to was the number of unaccompanied foreign minors who, year after year, reach the legal age of adulthood undocumented and without any possibility of being able to support themselves. According to data from the General Commissariat for Foreigners and Borders, during this year, 4,625 will turn 18 years of age. The Ombudsman considers it essential for the
General State Administration to plan, in coordination with the regional child protection agencies, the transition to adulthood of these children. In 2020, in the Canary Islands, only 134 residence permits have been granted to foreign minors under guardianship.
