Guillermo Sánchez, president of IMAS and regional minister of Social Welfare, denounces that, despite recognizing the seriousness of the migration situation, the Spanish government has only approved an administrative procedure to care for adults and has left out unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents, worsening the saturation of Mallorca's protection system.
The president of the Mallorcan Institute of Social Affairs (IMAS) and regional minister of Social Welfare, Guillermo Sánchez, today denounced the Spanish government’s decision to “once again neglect unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents, victims of the migration crisis”, and stressed that this decision, “further exacerbates the overcrowding of the child protection system in Mallorca.”
Yesterday, the Council of Ministers did not approve a declaration of emergency or a migration contingency, but rather the ratification of a resolution from the Secretariat of State for Migration approved in August. This agreement enables a more streamlined administrative procedure for contracting services through the Public Sector Contracts Law and allows for the emergency contracting of resources to assist adult migrants arriving on the islands. However, minors have been excluded, despite being the most vulnerable group and the one that exerts the greatest pressure on the island system.
This comes after more than a year in which the Consell de Mallorca and IMAS have repeatedly called for specific aid and extraordinary resources in response to overcrowding. The child protection system in Mallorca is 1,150% overcrowded, more than ten times its actual capacity, with no available space or sufficient professionals, and no extraordinary funding from the State. The situation jeopardizes the quality and dignity of the care these children and adolescents receive.
The lack of state support is exacerbated by a proposed distribution among autonomous communities that has been “opaque and unfair, treating minors as commodities and accompanied by institutional pressure and blackmail,” according to the president of IMAS. Furthermore, the government representative has repeatedly spoken of nonexistent aid, amounts that have never been offered to either the Balearic Government or the Consell de Mallorca.
Finally, the president of IMAS emphasized that “Mallorca cannot be left completely alone in this situation. We need resources, professionals, and spaces to guarantee dignified and responsible care. We will always advocate for these children and adolescents to receive guaranteed care, but we demand that the Spanish government not continue to ignore them.”
