ATLANTIC ROUTE and SPAIN: Canary Islands Government Accuses Spanish State of Abandoning Its Responsibilities Amid Serious Migration ‘Crisis’; Invites European Commission President to Witness Situation ― Up to 1,500 People Swim to Ceuta ― Spanish Prime …

• The Canary Islands government has accused the Spanish state of ‘abandoning’ its responsibility towards the archipelago as it faces a serious migration “crisis”, and has invited European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to witness the situation.
• Up to 1,500 people have swum from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.
• Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has visited Gambia, Mauritania and Senegal, and signed agreements on promoting regular migration and tackling people smuggling.
• A video that has circulated on social media appears to show a Spanish police boat running over a dinghy carrying four people dinghy and knocking one of them into the sea close to the Spanish enclave of Melilla.

On 2 September, the Canary Islands government accused the Spanish state of ‘abandoning’ its responsibility towards the archipelago as it faces a serious migration “crisis”. Its president, Fernando Clavijo, has proposed, among other measures, to open a “legal debate” over Madrid’s “neglect of its functions”. “I don’t know whether the Spanish government is clear about this or not. I am clear that the Spanish government is abandoning the Canary Islands, and that is something that must be conveyed,” he told public broadcaster Canarias Radio. There have been 22,304 recorded arrivals on the Canary Islands so far in 2024. Several ECRE member organisations have commented on the situation. “We are not facing a migration crisis. We are facing a humanitarian and human rights crisis,” X posted the Red Acoge Federation. “There is no migration crisis. There is a humanitarian emergency. Of people risking their lives and fleeing horror and misery. Of traumatized children who continue to suffer because they are denied the right to live in dignity,” added Movimiento por la Paz (MPDL).

The Canary Islands government has also invited European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen to visit the archipelago in order to witness the situation. On 27 August, its spokesperson, Alfonso Cabello, wrote that the EC president’s presence would be seen as a “symbol of the European Union’s commitment to this outermost territory”. In addition to the invitation, Cavijo called for greater EU support “so that the Canary Islands do not have to shoulder all of Europe’s migratory pressure on its own,” stressing that: “In the end, it’s a pressure for Europe because they are arriving in Europe, in Spain, and not just on the Canary Islands”. ECRE member organisation the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR) commented on Europe’s role in an X thread in which it noted that: “thousands of people have disappeared on this increasingly busy and increasingly dangerous journey”. It added: “Meanwhile, Europe is moving towards externalising and tightening borders focused on preventing people from arriving, rather than offering protection solutions and guarantees of rights”. “We need an open Europe that advocates for legal pathways now, seeking protection without risking one’s life, and lasting solutions so that refugees can live in dignity,” it concluded.

Large numbers of people have also arrived in Ceuta in North Africa. On 26 August, up to 1,500 people swam from Morocco to the Spanish enclave and approximately 700 of them were intercepted by Spanish police. ECRE member organisation the Andalucía Acoge Federation X posted about one of the tragedies linked to the situation in Ceuta: “This situation repeats itself every year. It is not a migration crisis, it is a permanent reality,” it wrote, adding: “We need a stable reception system, reinforced with resources, infrastructure and joint political decision-making by the Spanish and European authorities”. “We insist that the governments of Spain and the EU facilitate and enable legal and safe paths that guarantee the right to life of people who migrate, and that they invest in a dignified and permanent reception system,” it concluded.

On 4 September, the Spanish Minister for Youth and Children, Sira Rego, announced that the Spanish government was drafting a contingency plan with the EU to help relieve the situation in the Canary Islands and Ceuta. In addition, the executive director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), Hans Leijtens has also encouraged the Spanish government to submit a formal request for support in order to enable the agency to co-operate with Spanish authorities.

On 27 August, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited Gambia, Mauritania and Senegal, three of the main countries of origin for the people who have been arriving on the Canary Islands. He signed agreements with the governments of the three countries to, inter alia, promote regular migration in the form of circular migration programmes and tackle people smuggling. During the visit, Sánchez spoke of the need to manage migration while fighting against people smugglers and others who “take advantage of the terrible conditions and desperation of those who resort to irregular migration”. Commenting on the trip, the Andalucía Acoge Federation X posted: “Enough already! We are concerned that there is an attempt to criminalise migrants who have no legal option and enter irregularly, with policies focused on devaluing the condition of those who are risking their lives for a future. It is not a question of capacity, nor of closing and outsourcing borders, but of the will and responsibility of the Spanish government, which must assume its role with constant, coherent and humanitarian public measures on foreigners, which do not change depending on the moment”. The Red Acoge Federation used the opportunity to comment on what it perceived as a “rise of discriminatory discourse around the migration reality” when it X posted: “No one wants to put their life at risk, they are forced to do so due to the lack of regular and safe routes. Agreements with third countries based on the commodification of people or the externalisation of borders impose limitations on the mobility of people. Representing migration as a security problem responds to particular interests that seek to legitimise racist and xenophobic partisan proposals”.

On 26 August, footage circulated on social media of what appeared to be a Spanish police boat running over a dinghy carrying four people and knocking one of them into the sea close to Melilla. According to the Moroccan police, no deaths resulted from the incident. However, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) appeared to cast doubt on this claim when it X posted about what it described as a “criminal attack” and claimed that the collision was deliberate. It described “total co-operation” between  the Moroccan police and the Spanish police and demanded the opening of an investigation after “the body of a Moroccan migrant was received (…) at the morgue of the Hassani hospital in Nador”. In a Facebook post on 3 September, the Melilla-based NGO Solidary Wheels wrote  that the Spanish Ministry of the Interior had “rejected the opening of an investigation”.

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