Spain’s Supreme Tribunal has asked the national government to explain what actions it has taken to relocate over 1,000 migrant children who are currently living in very crowded shelters in the Canary Islands. The court said the government must give this information by May 29.
Right now, about 5,000 unaccompanied migrant children are staying in the Canary Islands. The court had already asked the government to take urgent steps to solve this problem back in March, but the government did not respond as expected. Because of this, the court is now demanding a full explanation.
According to the court, the government was told to take charge of the national sheltering system and to move at least 1,000 of the children to other parts of Spain. The goal was to ease the pressure on shelters in the Canary Islands and give the children better living conditions. However, the court said that the government has not followed the order properly.
The court also said the government must now give a detailed report. This report must explain what shelter spaces have been given to each child and also describe the situation of the children who still have no shelter assigned. This is to make sure that no child is left in poor conditions.
This latest action from the court came after the Canary Islands government filed an appeal in January. They had asked the national government for help in giving the children access to the international protection system, but they did not receive any proper support.
After looking into the issue, the court said that the responsibility to help these children lies with Spain’s Migration Secretariat, not with the Canary Islands alone. The court said that keeping the children in these crowded shelters goes against their best interests and basic rights.
The court also noted that, although some meetings were held between the central and regional governments, they only agreed to solve cases one by one. The court said this is not good enough and does not solve the bigger problem. The judges want a proper plan to fix the situation for all the children.
This issue has become a serious point of disagreement between the central government and the Canary Islands. Now, all eyes are on the government to see how it will respond to the court and whether it will finally take action to protect these vulnerable migrant children.