Clavijo calls for EU Migration Pact to address unaccompanied minors cases

Eduardo González The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has taken advantage of his speech at the summit of Parliaments of the South of the European Union to ask the EU to focus on the African continent, “listening to proposals from both shores”, in order to be able to respond “together” to the structural challenge of migration. The Conference of Parliaments of the South of the European Union and North Africa was held this Monday in Lanzarote. The central session of the summit was dedicated to the migration routes of the Central, Eastern and Western Mediterranean and the Atlantic and the meeting ended with a call to the governments on both sides of the Mediterranean to strengthen collaboration on migration issues. In addition to Clavijo, the President of the House of Representatives of Morocco, Rachid Talbi Alami, the Vice-President of the House of Representatives of Egypt, Mohamed Abou El Enein, and the Vice-President of the European Parliament, Younous Amorjee, participated in the debate on migration policy. “There is no wall or sea that will stop those who seek a better life, therefore, let us all contribute to giving them a life project in their land,” said Clavijo during the closing of the meeting. “Let us look to African countries as allies,” because “only in this way will we avoid the loss of human lives and guarantee the better world to which we all aspire,” he warned. “Let us recover missions as important as that of the European Union in the Sahel to stop the pressure on the bordering territories,” Clavijo continued. The European mission in the African belt concluded at the end of March 2024 due to disagreements between the Member States regarding its continuity, after the withdrawal of France. Clavijo recalled that the so-called Atlantic Route, the deadliest in the world and “current hot spot for migration to Europe”, has been active for more than 30 years and that, in that period, the coasts of the Canary Islands have received 250,000 people, of which almost 86,000 have arrived in the last two years. Despite this strong migratory pressure and the critical situation of the reception system, the president stressed that the Canary Islands have been and continue to be “an example of solidarity” without falling into xenophobia. On the other hand, Clavijo criticised the responses of the State and the EU to the migration crisis and assured that the Canary Islands are facing this challenge alone, despite it being a challenge that requires the maximum involvement of the Spanish and European authorities, because “every migrant who reaches the coasts of the islands does so in Europe”. The president also took advantage of his participation in this summit to request a response from Brussels to the more than 5,800 unaccompanied migrant minors that the Canary Islands currently host and asked that the development and application of the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum grant specific treatment to these children, something that does not currently occur. At the end of the summit, the parliamentarians reaffirmed "the shared commitment to strengthening cooperation between the two shores of the Mediterranean, especially in relation to the management of migratory flows," and warned that the growing escalation of tensions in the Middle East and instability in the Sahel will contribute to increasing irregular migration. For all these reasons, the signatory parliamentarians stressed the need to help countries of origin to strengthen their management capacity for the reintegration of migrants, as well as to support the establishment of local development programs in the countries of origin, especially for women. They also called for the implementation of a comprehensive strategy to combat desertification on the African continent and for the improvement of basic public services such as education and health.

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