Spanish government to open new shelters in Canary Islands

amid surge in migrant arrivals

The Spanish government will open its own migrant centers in the Canary Islands to
address a surge of arrivals to the archipelago, according to sources from the secretary of
state for migration. The Canary Islands regional government and NGO groups have been
demanding the government open its own facilities for years. This demand has taken on
greater urgency in recent times due to the spike in arrivals and the difficulties posed by
the coronavirus pandemic.

Increased border controls in northern Morocco have been pushing the migration routes to
the Atlantic side, where the nearest of the Canary Islands lies around 95 kilometers west
of the Moroccan coast. As a result of the rising number of arrivals, the government
delegation in the region has been forced to improvise accommodation options for
migrants. These have broadly failed to meet basic standards, with migrants staying
overnight at docks, in industrial warehouses, in Canarian wrestling facilities and in tourist
complexes during the last few weeks. But it will still be months before the new centers
open. “Due to the processing times required, temporary resources will be sent to allow
hundreds of people to be homed in dignified conditions,” said the same sources, who
defended the work of the secretary of state for migration.

The rising number of arrivals, together with the suspension of transfers to the Spanish
peninsula, has pushed migrant centers to the breaking point. The situation, which is
especially dire in Gran Canaria, has led migrants to be housed in “deplorable” and
“inhuman” conditions, according to Abián Montesdeoca, a pediatrician with the regional
healthcare service. Since March, Montesdeoca has been leading a special team treating
disease and following the health of migrant children. “We are worse than ever,” he says,
explaining that the facilities are not cleaned, often lack showers and bathrooms, have poor
ventilation, where social distancing measures are nonexistent and there is no space to treat
patients or for medical consultations. In some cases, there are trash containers within the
warehouse, and adults and children are forced to sleep on the floor.

“The accommodation conditions are worse than at refugee camps in countries like South
Sudan, Angola and Iraq, as one of our colleagues has confirmed,” he says.