The Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030 announced on Tuesday that it has agreed with the Autonomous Communities to receive 396 unaccompanied minors currently in the Canary Islands and Ceuta. Of this total, 360 will leave the archipelago and the remaining 36 will leave the autonomous city. At the sector conference on childhood and youth, the ministry committed to providing an additional 20 million euros for the transfer and reception of unaccompanied children and young people by the autonomous communities. These funds are in addition to the 15 million that the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla already received in May.
This new solidarity transfer means, according to its own information, that the Ministry has made a total of 70 million euros available to the Autonomous Communities in 2022 and 2023 to transfer or receive a total of 774 minors.
This distribution is the result of the 2022-2023 Migrant Child Migration Crisis Response Plan that Minister Ione Belarra’s department agreed with the autonomous communities last year. This pact allowed for the distribution of 400 migrants in 2022, but this year’s agreement had yet to be concluded. This document was, in principle, not only about creating a referral system for children, but also about setting up dedicated resources “to ensure quality care both at the points of arrival and during subsequent reception,” as its own ministry put it .
According to official information, the Canary Islands are currently guarding 3,321 minors – the municipalities are responsible for people under the age of 18. The surge in new arrivals has put pressure on the executive branch, which has accelerated the opening of centers and, in turn, multiplied requests for help to the central executive branch.
For this reason, this announcement has caused satisfaction among the Government of the Canary Islands, as explained by the Minister of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Children and Families of the Government of the Canary Islands, Candelaria Delgado, in statements to the media. “I’m excited,” she said. “All, all autonomous communities have unanimously agreed to the solidarity distribution of minors. They have even made efforts to increase the number of initial transfers.” However, Delgado warned that “this is a state matter” and announced the creation of a working group with the remaining municipalities to analyze how these distributions will take place and how should be financed, an aspect in which he also involved the European Union.
The agreement reached this Tuesday provides for the following distribution of minors and the amount of money allocated: Andalusia (36/1.9 million), Aragon (24/1.3 million), Asturias (32/1.7 million), Balearic Islands ( 10/529,250 euros), Canary Islands (21/1.3 million), Cantabria (26/1.4 million), Castile and León (23/1.2 million), Castile-La Mancha (20/1 million), Catalonia (33/1.8 million), Ceuta (2/180,850 euros), Valencian Community (25/1.3 million), Extremadura (25/1.3 million), Galicia (28/1.5 million), Autonomous Community of Madrid (34/1.8 million), Region of Murcia (19/1 million), La Rioja (4/211,700 euros), Navarre (17) and the Basque Country (17). These last two municipalities do not receive any financial support as they are subject to their special financing regime.
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