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MIGRATION

Forty migrants feared dead off Spain’s Canaries

At least 40 migrants are believed to have drowned when their dinghy sank in the Atlantic Ocean off the Canary Islands, Spanish non-profit group Walking Borders said on Wednesday.

Published: 22 June 2023 08:56 CEST
Forty migrants feared dead off Spain's Canaries
The migrant route from West Africa to the Canary Islands across the Atlantic has become more popular in recent years as authorities have cracked down on illegal migration in the Mediterranean.(Photo by DESIREE MARTIN / AFP)

The coast guard said rescue workers had recovered the body of a minor on Wednesday and plucked 24 other migrants from the ocean.

Walking Borders, which tracks migrant deaths and provides assistance to relatives, posted on Twitter that 39 people had died, including four women and a baby.

The group’s founder Helena Maleno said the migrants had waited for over 12 hours for assistance.

A Spanish helicopter sent to the area in response to a request for help from Moroccan authorities found the dead minor and saw no other survivors, a coast guard spokeswoman said.

A Moroccan patrol boat rescued 24 people, she said, adding she did not know “how many people were on board the vessel” in total.

Contacted by AFP, there was no immediate reactions from Moroccan authorities.

The sinking happened about 160 kilometres (100 miles) southeast of Spain’s Gran Canaria.

The migrant route from West Africa to the Canary Islands across the Atlantic has become more popular in recent years as authorities have cracked down on illegal migration in the Mediterranean.

The Atlantic is notorious for strong currents that make such trips perilous.

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MIGRATION

Spain to debate blanket legalisation of its 500,000 undocumented migrants

Spain's parliament voted on Tuesday to debate an initiative which calls for the legalisation of all undocumented migrants living in the country.

Published: 10 April 2024 09:21 CEST
Spain to debate blanket legalisation of its 500,000 undocumented migrants

The initiative, launched over three years ago by a group in defence of illegal migrants, was signed by more than 600,000 people and supported by some 900 associations.

It calls for the implementation of mechanisms that would allow undocumented migrants living in Spain to “leave a situation of invisibility and of ‘no rights'”.

“According to the most recent estimates, between 390,000 and 470,000 people are in an irregular situation in Spain, a third of whom are minors,” the text initiative said, although most media sourced put the figure at closer to 500,000.

Yet, “the criteria for obtaining a residence permit are very restrictive” and the procedure for obtaining a permit is “slow, bureaucratic”, the initiative added.

While the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) is in favour of parliament examining the proposed law, they remain cautious, saying European law does not allow for general legalisation of undocumented migrants.

But the backers of the initiative say that mass legalisation policies have been implemented several times over recent decades in the European Union, including in Spain.

PSOE politician Elisa Garrido said it was not difficult to “share… the laudable objective” of this initiative to “restore dignity and provide a regularised administrative situation to people who live in our country and have rights”.

The writers of the initiative say the current situation harms the “fundamental rights” of undocumented immigrants, who are not taxed, causing a “significant economic and fiscal loss” for Spain.

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