The 14 arrivals in the last few hours continue to strain the IMAS residential system for the protection of minors, and the institution activates the protocol to open one of the spaces ceded by the Bishopric of Mallorca.
In the last few hours, 14 unaccompanied minor migrants have arrived on the coasts of Mallorca. With these new arrivals, there are now 164 unaccompanied minors arriving on the island so far this year, a figure that is already very close to the 180 who arrived throughout 2023. At the moment, the Consell de Mallorca, through the IMAS residential system for the protection of minors, is already caring for 603 minors, 303 of whom are unaccompanied migrant minors.
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The Consell de Mallorca insists on the need for an urgent meeting with the Government Delegation given the continuing and imminent arrival of new unaccompanied migrant minors
To deal with this situation, IMAS is implementing the protocol to open one of the spaces that the Bishopric of Mallorca made available to the island’s institution at the meeting held on 18 July. The president of IMAS, Guillermo Sánchez, explained that “this measure will serve to alleviate, temporarily, the overcrowding that the centres are already suffering at the moment”.
On 16 July, the Consell de Mallorca, through the councillor for Social Welfare, Guillermo Sánchez, appealed to organisations and the central government through the government delegation, calling for their involvement in alleviating the migratory crisis on the island. In the case of the central government, it is responsible for migration issues and is already actively collaborating in resolving the migration problem in other communities such as the Canary Islands. Third sector organisations and the Bishopric of Mallorca have already responded to this request and in recent weeks have met with the island’s institution to seek ways of collaborating.
Today, given the worsening situation, the councillor has reiterated his request to the central government, as he has not yet received a response to the petition. “The commitment of the government delegation was to summon us in the week that has just ended, and that summons has not taken place. Therefore the lack of sensitivity of the government of Pedro Sánchez in the attention to this problem is confirmed”, said the councillor Sánchez.
In addition to spaces for the care of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents arriving in Mallorca, the president of IMAS also called for measures such as a serious migration policy on the part of the central government, not focused exclusively on solidarity distribution, and a global contingency plan that takes into account the uniqueness of the Balearic Islands and their consideration as a migratory route, as well as funding for the care of these minors.