Spain seeks to transfer about 500 girls from Ceuta to social organizations elsewhere on the mainland.

On Thursday, Sira Rego, Spain’s Minister of Children and Youth, revealed that nearly half of the 1,500 migrant minors in Ceuta’s reception system are girls.

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During a news conference with the autonomous communities, she also revealed that many of those migrants are younger than 13, showing a change in the migration profile.

Rego confirmed that 25 million euros had been allocated to Ceuta to care for the migrant minors who entered the city, which borders Morocco, on July 30 and 31. The funding could be increased as the Spanish government obtains “more concrete figures,” she said.

For now, the government has proposed that about 500 of the girls who remain in Ceuta under the city’s guardianship be placed under the care of social organizations in other parts of mainland Spain, without involving resources from other autonomous communities.

The text reads, “Vox closes the door to the 500 migrant girls from Ceuta in the communities where it has jurisdiction.”

Rego argued that the change in the migration profile requires the treatment of migration to be different. She made clear that “children are not invaders” and that the situation must be addressed “in humanitarian terms” and with solidarity.

Many of the migrant children have fled situations of extreme violence, have no family to return to, or are homeless. For that reason, providing individualized care to those children “requires time and support,” the Spanish minister explained.

Rego criticized Europe’s commitment to the “externalization and militarization of borders.” Instead of that policy, she proposes opting for “legal and safe pathways” to manage and control “migration with rights.”

The Spanish minister acknowledged the “overwhelming pressure and saturation of Ceuta’s resources” and stressed that the “commitment must be based on a humanitarian solution” and also be “in solidarity with the people of Ceuta.”

The text reads, “The critical situation of the migrant children remaining in Ceuta: ‘Of all the girls we have spoken to, none want to return’.”

On July 30 and 31, more than 70,000 people swam from Morocco to Ceuta. Although the vast majority returned within a few hours, thousands of them remain in the Spanish city.

Many of the migrants are children living in precarious conditions, despite services the Spanish government is opening to alleviate the emergency. The situation has strained the city’s social services and relations among residents, who are calling for the migrants to leave.

On Wednesday night, Ceuta residents took part in several riots and disturbances in protest of the socioeconomic and security crisis affecting their city. As a result of the tension in the city, authorities detained 12 Moroccan migrants who threw stones at a vehicle carrying soldiers after the disturbances.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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