- Title: SPAIN: Child migrants face abuse in Spanish centres say Human Rights Watch
- Date: 27th July 2007
- Summary: (EU) MADRID, SPAIN (JULY 26, 2007) (REUTERS) PHOTOGRAPHERS, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH NEWS CONFERENCE ROOM HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH BANNER HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH RESEARCHERS DURING NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALIST HUMAN RIGHT REPORT COVER READING: "UNWELCOME RESPONSIBILITIES. SPAIN FAILURE TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF UNACCOMPANIED MIGRANT CHILDREN IN THE CANARY ISLANDS" (SOUNDBITE) (English) HUMAN RIGHTS RESEARCHER SIMONE TROLLER SAYING: "Clearly there must be some kind of pressure on the Spanish government and we hope our report will trigger, to a certain extent, that pressure, because we document very serious violations including ill-treatment and including ill-treatment that we qualify as inhuman and degrading treatment. Spain is also accountable to international mechanisms such as the UN Committee on the Right of the Child, such as the Council of Europe and clearly it must be pressurized to take action." CANARY ISLANDS TV CREW INTERVIEWING RESEARCHER TROLLER (SOUNDBITE) (English) HUMAN RIGHTS RESEARCHER SIMONE TROLLER SAYING: "We included testimonies, excerpts of testimonies that described what had happened. We have withheld all information where the possible perpetrators or the possible victims could be identified for the reasons I explained earlier. And the testimonials we received are very disturbing, especially in La Esperanza Centre, when there were several children speaking about very similar incidents from different angles and speaking very consistently of what had happened." CANARY ISLANDS TV CREW INTERVIEWING RESEARCHER TROLLER
- Embargoed: 11th August 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Spain
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Social Services / Welfare
- Reuters ID: LVA80RQQ9YO36ZAHSI9B74B4L90I
- Story Text: Juvenile African migrants are being abused in a Canary Island shelter says Human Rights Watch, as a Maritime Rescue boat with 149 would-be migrants rescued at sea reaches the Canary Island of El Hierro.
Hundreds of African children are at risk of violence and even sexual abuse in Spanish government migrant detention centres in the Canary Islands, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday (July 26).
Children at the four centres established to cope with a surge in illegal migration to the Canaries last year complained of beatings by staff and of a lack of protection from violence by peers, the human rights lobby group said in a report which the island government said lacked proof.
"Clearly there must be some kind of pressure on the Spanish government and we hope our report will trigger, to a certain extent, that pressure, because we document very serious violations including ill-treatment and including ill-treatment that we qualify as inhuman and degrading treatment. Spain is also accountable to international mechanisms such as the UN Committee on the Right of the Child, such as the Council of Europe and clearly it must be pressurized to take action," Simone Troller, Europe children's rights researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW) told Reuters.
The HRW report recommends the Canary Islands government to close these centres and arrange better care for the children.
More than 5,000 Africans have arrived in the Canaries so far this year after surviving dangerous sea journeys for hundreds of miles in wooden boats.
Hoping for work in Europe, they are locked in detention centres prior to repatriation.
At the centres for children, inmates are particularly vulnerable, and lack access to education or recreation. At one centre, some children said a staff member had sexually harassed them and others complained of violence, Human Rights Watch said.
"We included testimonies, excerpts of testimonies that described what had happened. We have withheld all information where the possible perpetrators or the possible victims could be identified for the reasons I explained earlier. And the testimonials we received are very disturbing, especially in La Esperanza Centre, when there were several children speaking about very similar incidents from different angles and speaking very consistently of what had happened," said Troller.
The HRW researcher explained that they had interviewed the children confidentially and didn't want to put them at risk by disclosing their names.
The report, however, included some excerpts of their conversations.
"One boy got into trouble with (a staff member). That day the (staff member) took him to the shower and beat him up. There was blood in the boy's mouth and his clothes were full of blood," said a 17-year-old boy at the La Esperanza centre, according to Human Rights Watch.
They quoted another boy as saying: "When we tell them that we are hungry they tell us that we were starving in Senegal and should be happy to be given food at all."
But the Canary Islands' regional government said it had initiated an internal investigation in February after Human Rights Watch first told it of the abuses described in the report only presented on Thursday and found no evidence for them.
Regional Minister of Social Affairs, Ines Nieves Rojas told reporters said that she was going to check. "I intend to go and visit the centres to personally speak with the staff, since their job is being questioned. It's my job to keep watch over that so no irregularities take place. I'm going to go there myself to check in situ what has happened," she said.
The Canary Islands government added that it also wants to close down the centres and said the national Spanish government had failed to meet a commitment to transfer more of the children to the mainland.
Meanwhile, a Spanish Maritime Rescue boat transporting 149 would-be migrants rescued at sea arrived at the Canary Islands port of El Hierro.
Authorities believe thousands of Africans died last year attempting to reach the Canaries, hundreds of miles from the African coast. Most disappeared at sea without trace, bodies sometimes washing up days later on African shores.
About 31,000 migrants made it to the Canaries last year, making illegal immigration one of Spain's main political issues.
Illegal arrivals have fallen off sharply since the government stepped up repatriations and the European Union started maritime patrols. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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