Human rights organisations have warned that many child migrants are being mistakenly classified as adults by Spanish police, placing children at heightened risk. This surge in the number of migrants making the perilous route from West Africa to the Spanish Canary Islands is putting a burden on local authorities.
More than 32,000 migrants from West Africa have reached the Canary Islands so far this year, making it the largest amount since 2006.
Children travelling alone
Moussa Camara, who is fifteen years old, was left an orphan after the coup in his native Guinea in 2021. Along with 240 other migrants, he made the difficult decision to flee and spent 11 days at sea in a wooden boat travelling from Senegal to the Spanish island of Tenerife. He was without water or nourishment for half of that time. He claims that twenty individuals perished on that crossing, their corpses flung over the side of the boat.
After suffering from sunburns, starvation, and dehydration, Camara finally reached Tenerife on October 27, 2021. It was not, however, over. Because Camara and his companion were categorised by Spanish authorities as adults rather than juveniles, they were not permitted to reside in a centre for minors or take advantage of the superior chances provided to individuals under the age of eighteen.
“We claimed to be fifteen years old at the centre. However, they treated us as though we were grownups and didn’t write that. However, they sent us here despite the fact that we are still youngsters. They carried our documents. They let us down, Camara said to Reuters.
The two youngsters were sent by Spanish police to Las Raices, an abandoned military facility in the mountains of Tenerife, where over 2,000 adult migrants are waiting to be transferred to the Spanish mainland.
erroneously assigned
Amnesty International, a human rights organisation, has conducted interviews with 29 migrants on the Canary Islands. According to the group, 12 of them were under the age of 18, but since they had been wrongly classed as adults, they were being held in adult detention centres against the wishes of both international and Spanish refugee legislation.
“The fact that they were with individuals they weren’t related to and were not under the care of the authorities makes this quite troubling. We spoke with a seventeen-year-old girl who had been held for three days in a facility without any supervision from the government, along with men and women. She was dozing off on the ground. And nobody was inquiring about her requirements,” Virginia Alvarez of Amnesty remarked after visiting Tenerife and El Hierro on October 25–28.
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statutory rights
The police frequently took away the goods of the kid migrants, including their cell phones. Alvarez claims that most were not informed of their legal rights.
“They may be sent back to their own nations if they are handled like adults. Additionally, they are escaping (state) protection. They may be sent to other European nations or, in some cases, they may be moved to the mainland where they are left alone as minors in Spain without any protection, according to Alvarez.
To verify a migrant’s age, a bone test is necessary, but scheduling one can take months. Up until the age of 18, child migrants receive further assistance in locating housing and pursuing an education. But if they’re counted as adults, they get very little assistance from the government.
Surpassed
Local officials claim that not enough is being done to assist by Spain’s central government.
“They have left us with 4,700 kids, overburdened NGOs and resources, and challenges since the process of determining who is and is not a minor is not being carried out; it is taking three or four months at the very least. Additionally, there are minors in centres for adults and adults in centres for minors. Thus, we face this challenge,” regional government president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, remarked.
In his view, more has to be done by the European Union to address the underlying reasons behind African emigration.
“Are you aware of the ordeal a parent goes through while placing their son, age six or seven, on a cayuco, a little wooden boat, carrying 200 or more strangers, and abandoning them into the open ocean during the night? These individuals don’t do it for enjoyment, Clavijo said to Reuters.
EU mandates
Amnesty International is urging the European Union and the Spanish government to ensure that minor migrants are appropriately vetted and to give refugees safer pathways.
On November 14, Reuters was informed by the Spanish Public Prosecutor’s office that 48 instances involving suspected juveniles at the Las Raices camp in Tenerife had been investigated. Of those migrants, 30 were taken to a children’s facility pending age testing, 14 were still undergoing examination, and four were verified to be children.
