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The Spanish Government asks for support in connection with a large wave of refugees to the Canary Islands
Author:Mariusz Dasiewicz
The Spanish Government has called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Morocco and Senegal, African countries, from which illegal visitors arrive in the Canary Islands, to assist Madrid in resolving the migration crisis in this archipelago.
In charge of the Spanish government for the Ministry of Migration, Jose Luis Escriva told the media on Saturday that from a group of immigrants who have invaded Gran Canaria, the largest island of the archipelago in recent weeks, only about 10% meet the conditions for granting refugee status.
Escriva recalled that the government of Pedra Sanchez has intensified diplomatic activity in recent days, pushing, among others, international organisations, as well as the countries of north-western Africa for increased efforts to curb the mass influx of illegal immigrants into the Canary Islands.
On Friday, Spain's head of the MMA Fernando Grande-Marlaska called on Morocco's authorities in Rabat to step up controls of the coast, indicating that the majority of immigrants are coming from that country towards the Canary Islands.
On Saturday the head of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Arancha Gonzalez Laya also called on the Senegalese authorities to step up efforts to counter the influx of citizens of this African country into the Canary Islands. On Sunday, it will go to Dakar to convince the Senegalese authorities to support Madrid in resolving the migration crisis.
On Friday, Gonzalez Laya visited Geneva, where she appealed to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to assist Madrid in resolving the issue of the mass influx of Africans into the Canary Islands.
On Saturday, the Spanish archipelago was headed by the leader of the People's Party (PP), the largest parliamentary opposition group, Pablo Casado. Following a meeting with the regional political authorities, he called on the Spanish Government to immediately deport African immigrants from the Canary Islands. He stated that the migration crisis was the result of the too lenient migration policy of Sanchez's centre-left office.
On Friday, the Spanish government announced that with an increasing number of African immigrants, among whom are people infected with coronavirus, a refugee camp would be established in Gran Canaria. In the end, there will be 7,000 people in it.
According to the autonomous government of the Canary Islands from 1 January to 16 November 2018, a total of 18,000 illegal immigrants reached this Spanish archipelago, which is over 1000 percent more compared to the whole 2019. As many as 9,000 illegal visitors have arrived there in the past four weeks. More than half of them were Moroccans.
Source: PAP
