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Save the children : No holiday in the Canaries this winter
  1. Signatures
    96 out of 99
    Petitioning
    1. Gobierno de Canarias (+ 3 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • Gobierno de Canarias
      • European Union
      • United Nations
      • UNICEF
  2. Created By
    Canarias Watch
About this Petition Petition Letter

The Canary Islands government's decision to keep hundreds of unaccompanied migrant children in unregulated emergency shelters puts the children at risk and threatens their well-being (Human Rights Watch)

The 40-page report, "Eternal Emergency: No End to Unaccompanied Migrant Children's Institutionalization in Canary Islands Emergency Centers," says that the centers fail to comply with the Canary Islands government's minimum care standards for migrant children and have no occupancy limits.

Children in the biggest and most secluded emergency center, La Esperanza, receive low-quality food, lack adequate heating, hot water, and blankets, and report frequent violence from other children.

The Canary Islands government says it plans to close down La Esperanza emergency center by December 2010, but so far it has done nothing to improve the situation and african children are about to become the most hard hit victims of Europe's economic crisis

A 16-year-old boy described conditions at La Esperanza: "It is very hard, especially in the winter... of course I'm cold at night. I have one blanket... there is no point to ask for another blanket. They won't give it to you. Nobody has two blankets.... Sometimes it's so cold you can't sleep." 

If you wish to help these children by injecting some ethics in your consumption patterns, DON'T GO ON HOLIDAYS IN THE CANARIES ISLANDS THIS WINTER to force the local governement to comply with human dignity of defenseless children, terrified and coming from all around West Africa

While Spain has declared the plight of unaccompanied migrant children a "priority issue" during its European Union presidency, Spain has done very little if nothing on the field to improve conditions according to all United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child measures.

We urge european tourists from Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, France and all other parts of the world to abstain from going to the Canary Islands this winter in order to pressure the governements (Las Palmas and Madrid) into keeping their word : relief african children who suffer in Canaries Islands rotten jails!

Recent Signatures

Save the children : conditions made for unaccompanied migrant children in Canary Islands

Greetings,

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to request that the governement of Canaries Islands keeps its promise of improving dramatically conditions made to unaccompanied migrant children in Canary Islands Emergency Centers.

I am deeply revulsed by the way these children are deprived from their humanity in undignified jails, whereas tourists pour on nearby beaches without any knowledge of what is happening to theses african children.

I am also writing to request the following information under the freedom of information laws :

• The total number of unaccompagned migrant children jailed in the Canary Islands since 2006,

• The total amount of money spent during 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 for the care and detention conditions of unaccompagned migrant children in the Canary Islands, I would like this
information broken down by year and if possible by month,

• The scope of the financial effort made by local autorities with a clear distinction between amounts received from the European Union, amounts provided by the Spanish governement, and the amount invested by he Canaries Islands local governement.

I would prefer to have this information sent electronically to this e-mail address which will then communicate with al signztories of this petition : CanariasWatch@hotmail.fr

Yours faithfully,

[Your name]

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