The Supreme Court has urged the Government for asylum applicants who are currently in charge of the Canary Islands Protection Services. The Contentious-Administrative Chamber has accepted the precautionary measure requested by the Canary Government and has agreed to a “non-extendable” period of 10 days for the central executive to “guarantee access and permanence” in the National System of Reception of International Protection of those minors, currently in charge of the minors protection services of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, which have requested international protection or manifested their willingness to request it. Likewise, the Chamber agrees that in that same period it will be informed of the measures adopted, and after that period, the Supreme will decide whether to celebrate a public view to examine compliance with the precautionary measure.
The measure agreed by the High Court affects more than 1,000 unaccompanied minors found in the reception services of the Canary Islands. According to the letter presented by the government of Fernando Clavijo last January in the Supreme Your will to obtain it. In total, at least 1,221 minors in charge of the Canary Islands who, according to the High Court, should be treated by the central government.
The Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, explained that the legal services of the interior, childhood and inclusion ministries are studying the supreme car, without giving more details. “In any case, it arrives after a royal decree law has been approved that responds not only to those who ask for asylum, but to all minors who are in contingency in the Canary Islands, and that it was already approved two weeks ago and that it will be validated on April 10. The important thing is that this is validated this royal law,” said Torres, who has criticized the decision of the community of Madrid, presided The Constitutional Court, José Marcos reports. The Government approved last week the modification of the Foreigners Law for the most tension autonomies, as happens to the Canary Islands and Ceuta, after ensuring the support of Junts. Executive sources highlight that with the Royal Decree, urgent measures are established “for the guarantee of the best interests of childhood and adolescence in the face of extraordinary migratory situations” together with the derivation mechanism to other territories.
The supreme has estimated the appeal presented by the Government of the Canary Islands last January, after the Central Executive ignored the requirement it made to guarantee the access of these minors to the international protection reception system. The magistrates have examined the powers of both administrations and have concluded that the management corresponds to the Secretary of State for Migration, according to Royal Decree 220/2022. The Court reproaches the Government that has not made available to these minors the State System for the reception of asylum applicants “although it is a system to which they have full right and whose effective implementation is revealed essential to correct the current overcrowding situation in which these minors – according to notorious – are openly incompatible with the superior interest of the minor that is forced to protect.”
The situation of the minors applicants for asylum and the breach of their obligations by the government had already been denounced by the, but the central executive has been insisting that the Constitution and the statutes of autonomy of the autonomous communities leave in the hands of these the competence to attend to all the unaccompanied. If the minors request asylum, as the power has defended, the power to guarantee the minimum reception standards provided in the European Directive is from the competent administration to serve the applicants, who are also the communities. These arguments were also wielded by the State Advocacy to oppose the appeal presented by the Canary Islands.
The president of the Canary Islands Government has expressed in statements to the media his “joy” for a car that, in his opinion, “confirms that” the legitimate aspirations and claims of the Canary Islands were founded in law, they were fair, they were moral, they were necessary “to protect the minor.” We were right, “said Fernando Clavijo.” We were talking about the violation of the rights, and of the violation of the state Solidarity. ” Guillermo Vega.
In its resolution, the Supreme Chamber warns that the analysis of the legislation can be released “a clear competence concurrence” of both administrations, state and autonomous, on these minors: in its status as minors “in obvious situation of helplessness” it cannot be ignored, the Court underlines, “its protection statute in charge of the Autonomous Community”. “But when the circumstance of having submitted an asylum application is added to its minor condition, on said statute it must necessarily converge” that attributes to this request asylum legislation, which is in charge of the State, in accordance with article 149.1.1 of the Constitution, the judges warn.
Although both administrations have competencies involved in the attention of these minors, adds the Supreme, “the truth is that in the current state reception system, to which these minors have full right, it does not appear that it has been made available.” The car recalls that Royal Decree 220 of 2022 designs a reception itinerary in several phases, with a global duration that can reach 18 months and in which, after an individualized evaluation, the material conditions of reception are determined. To cover each situation, there is a residential reception network of public and private ownership “under functional dependence” of the Ministry of State for Migration that, in addition, warns the Supreme, provides for “specialized attention to the specific needs of people in vulnerability situations […] with special attention to the specific and individualized treatment of childhood and adolescence (article 6.b) ”.
The magistrates consider that the “due coherence” of the state system for asylum applicants with which it derives from the autonomous competences regarding the protection of the minor “will require the forced collaboration and cooperation” of the Canary Islands “for the benefit of the best interests of the minor”. But, according to the Supreme Court, the current situation is “unsustainable”, so “it is urgent” that the access of these unaccompanied asylum applicants to the state system is guaranteed, “of which they cannot remain on the sidelines”, so the magistrates choose to agree on that immediate access as a precautionary measure. The decision has been taken by a single composed of magistrates Carlos Lesmes (president), Fernando Román, Ángeles Huet (speaker of the car), José Luis Quesada, María Consuelo Uris, María Concepción García Vicario and Francisco Javier Pueyo.
