EUROPE/SPAIN - Repatriation from the Canary Islands of those who are not entitled to international protection has begun

Thursday, 3 December 2020 emigration   local churches  

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Ceuta (Agenzia Fides) - "The repatriation of Moroccans from the Canary Islands has resumed", police sources said yesterday, December 2, to the daily El Espanol, without specifying the number of people concerned. This confirms the information provided by the Canary Islands Executive, satisfied with the thousands of stable posts that the Government is installing in the islands: "above all, because the posts are stable, but not those who occupy them. In fact, repatriations have resumed and are being promoted with the countries of origin and transit".
In other words Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal are accepting the return of "those who are not entitled to international protection" to quote the words of Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska. According to the Spanish press, sources in his department did not want to provide details on the number of repatriations or the date when they took place.
The sources of the Canary Islands Executive speak of "about a thousand" in "just over a week".
The process seems to have been activated since the Spanish Bishops' Conference (EEC) published a document, dated 20 November, in which it denounced the terrible situation of migrants in the Canary Islands and invited the Government of Spain and the European Union not to evade the problem and to act on it. The note, which includes the joint pastoral letter of the Bishops of the Canaries and Tenerife, warned the European and Spanish authorities that "it is not possible to create island ghettos to avoid the migration problem" adding that the it "is not only in the Canary Islands, but throughout Spain, in Europe and in the world".
According to the testimonies sent to Fides, no anti Covid-19 protocol is respected in the Canary Islands.
Since the pandemic was declared in Spain, the arrival of migrants has increased out of control. In 2020, 16,760 people landed in the Canary Islands. Spain has failed to make a single repatriation through the borders of Ceuta and Melilla, closed since March 13 by Morocco, which has reported health problems due to the Covid-19 pandemic. (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 3/12/2020)


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