Authorities in Spain will set up camps for more than 7,000 migrants, in an effort to manage the influx of arrivals in the Canary Islands, according to an announcement of the country’s government.
In order to evaluate the current situation and see if the crisis has been mishandled, judicial authorities visited of Arguineguin on Gran Canaria, in which a local mayor previously denounced the “subhuman conditions” of more than 1,000 migrants who were stranded on this port, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“We face a human tragedy and no one can or should look the other way,” the Defense Minister Margarita Robles pointed out.
Spain’s Migration Minister Jose Luis Escriva revealed some details after talks with regional officials who have urged the government to take immediate action regarding the current migration situation.
“Tents and emergency encampments with 7,000 places would be set up within weeks as a temporary solution while the government readied other facilities, mostly military, “more stable” setup for processing arrivals,” Escriva pointed out.
In this regard, Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska after meeting his Moroccan counterpart Abdelouafi Laftit highlighted that they are looking to find new ways to stop the surge in countries of origin and ease the “emergency situation” in the Canaries.
“We specified various measures we must take, mainly in the area of combating illegal immigration and fighting criminal organisations involved in people trafficking,” he pointed out.
According to him, the Coronavirus disease was a significant factor that impacted the increasing number of arrivals in the Canary Islands.
The European Union Protection Border Agency, Frontex previously announced that more than 17,000 migrants had entered illegally at the Canary Islands, during this year.
According to the report published by Frontex, only in October, more than 5,300 migrants tried to enter Europe through the Canary Islands routes. The figures registered a ten times monthly increase compared to the same month, one year earlier.
In the first ten months of this year, 11,400 migrants tried to enter the Canary Islands unlawfully. The majority of them were citizens of sub-Saharan countries. The recent influx in the number of migrants is considered the largest one since 2006 when up to 30,000 persons sought asylum in the Canary Islands.
SOURCE: Schengen Visa Info
