Migration overflows provisional refugee camps in the Canary Islands

The coronavirus crisis does not stop immigration, there are still many people who put their lives at risk to reach Europe in any way. This was demonstrated this weekend when more than 600 people arrived in the Canary Islands from the African continent. This figure increased on Monday with the arrival of 300 more in boats overtaking the port and the improvised camp of Arguineguín. 

As soon as they arrive, all of them are given a PCR test to detect coronavirus before being transferred to other places. The situation in the Canarian port of Arguineguín, in the town of Mogán in Las Palmas, is increasingly delicate. 

The latest rescues have brought to more than 800 the number of immigrants who remained yesterday, Monday, in the provisional camp installed in the southwest quay of Gran Canaria, the highest figure reached since it was set up more than a month ago due to the lack of centres to receive them. 

Sources from the Canary Islands Government Delegation reported on Monday that the Spanish Government continues to work to refer the immigrants to suitable centres for their accommodation as soon as possible. However, they pointed out that in order to be transferred, it is necessary to obtain the results of the PCR tests carried out on their arrival. 

The continuous arrival of migrants in boats, canoes or inflatable boats in the last two weeks has once again overwhelmed the camp, where Red Cross staff are responsible for their rescue and transfer to land.

More than 300 immigrants arrived on the islands yesterday, but it was only last week that 1,533 African migrants arrived on its shores and most of them were transferred to the Arguineguin dock. 

The Canary Islands have 3,400 places for the reception of immigrants - all of them occupied - according to the data provided by the Government Delegation. 

Antonio Morales, president of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, has demanded that Europe and Spain should activate a policy of referral for migrants, because it seems that, according to Morales, "Europe uses the island as a prison for migrants not to reach the continent". 

The coordinator of the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR) in the Canary Islands, where the arrival of migrants by sea has increased by 454% in the first seven months of the year according to data from the Ministry of the Interior, explained to the newspaper Cantabria Liberal that the trend in the arrival of boats "is continuing with increasing intensity" since September 2019. 

CEAR Canarias offers assistance to migrants arriving on the Spanish coast. Newcomers can apply for legal assistance for asylum and travel. A social service of primary care is also offered, they are given shelter in the Neighbourhood Refugee Centres and in the shelters for foreign minors.  

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has explained that the variation in the number of boats depends on many factors, from the benevolence of the climate to the fact that control is tightened on other routes.  

"The really sad thing is that people have to risk their lives to get to another country, paying much more than a plane or boat ticket would cost them, simply because they are not given permission to buy one or are not granted a visa," the humanitarian organisation lamented. 

MSF complains on its website that the current approach of the European Union ranges "from avoiding rescue at sea to deliberately holding people in refugee camps like Moria", and calls on the EU to take more humane and substantive measures to look after the rights of these people. 

CEAR has collected countless stories that explain why a person ends up throwing himself into the sea in a plastic boat with little guarantee of survival. Improving their social and economic living conditions is one of the reasons, but escaping from what they leave behind is more important. The reasons for this are different.

Abdou is the eldest child of five in a family with a very difficult situation. In this context, he was forced to make the decision to undertake the journey to try and help them. He told himself that, although it was very dangerous, he had to be calm and confident to endure anything he might encounter. He knew what he was facing, a friend of his died at sea trying to reach Europe. Living through moments of despair adrift, Abdou tells CEAR how some of his companions cried from pain and despair. 

He arrived in Spain from Africa by boat, his sea crossing lasted two weeks and two days. They all arrived except five of the people who were travelling with him, who died from "suffering, not having enough food, not drinking, being cold or getting sick during the journey". He had to share the food he had, although it was very scarce and he knew it would not be enough for the whole journey. 

Abdou does not recommend his friends to make this trip ever, he explains that it is better to stay in Africa and try to do things there, but he understands the situation of those who keep coming, as he explains, for they have no other option.

Ibrahim arrived in Europe by cayuco, on a journey that lasted two weeks. "Two weeks in the same position, seeing only water, being cold and hungry". More than 80 people were travelling in a small boat, in which the shouts and delirium were constant. "The sea sounds like danger to me, total danger," Ibrahim says. 

This survivor explains that, with some luck, the police will find you and take you to a centre, otherwise you are lost. 

Ibrahim says that if your family doesn't have the money to pay for a visa and a plane ticket, the way out is in the cayucos: "Nowadays if you have nothing you are nobody and that motivates young people to run away". He says that they all do it looking for a better life although they don't know if they are going to get it. 

Ousmane says that the whole journey, from the beginning to the end, "is a road full of dangers, surprises, pain and remorse". Remorse for the difficulty of the journey and for not knowing whether they are going to make it or not, he assures that achieving it is "a question of luck, not of being brave". 

He explained that there are boats that get lost in the middle of the journey, that you can run out of food and petrol, and in the end all the people who tried to reach Europe on board these boats do not manage to survive. 

"The sea is something very complex with sounds, noises and shouts that are scary, it is different to the sound of the beach". Ousmane explains how people get sick during the trip, he saw how a friend had to have his leg amputated when he reached land and another his arm. He says that he witnessed things that he never imagined would happen, "I don't even want to remember any of this because they are things that, just by remembering them, drive you crazy".