Four people have been found dead in a makeshift boat carrying some 23 migrants near Spain's Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa, local authorities said. Nineteen of them were hospitalized on Tenerife.
The Spanish Commission for Aid to Refugees (CEAR) presented a report in which it denounced that the Canary Islands are becoming "a new stage for migrant containment policy" such as that used in Greece.
Police fired rubber bullets on Tuesday in a fight at a migrant camp in Spain's Canary Islands, while in waters off Gran Canaria 17 migrants were rescued.
The Spanish government has come under fire from migrants, local officials and human rights groups on the Canary Islands, where thousands of migrants are stuck in inadequate camps.
The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, has unveiled a new policy “Africa Focus 2023”. He says that he wants to build closer economic and institutional ties with various African countries.
The Open Arms private rescue operation has saved the lives of 38 migrants in distress in the central Mediterranean. Nearer to Spain, at least two migrants drowned at the weekend.
The number of migrants and asylum seekers who reached Europe in 2020 is the lowest it has been for a decade. But deaths and disappearances on sea routes – especially to the Canary Islands – remain alarmingly high, says a UN Migration report.
Tensions are rising on the Canary Islands where migrants feel trapped – they are officially in Europe but unable to get to the mainland. Many of them are leaving the camps, saying they are inadequate.
Fifty-two people were rescued from a boat south of the Canary Islands on Tuesday evening. Emergency services said that 10 of the migrants were suffering from hypothermia.
Frightened of being sent back to their country of origin, migrants are leaving their accommodation centers in Gran Canaria to sleep on the streets of the Spanish island. Sometimes they find refuge high up on the edge of the cliffs.
At least five people reportedly died en route to Spain's Canary Islands on a boat carrying 48 migrants. Police are investigating whether four people were thrown overboard during the voyage.
The Spanish coast guard rescued 107 migrants from boats off the Canary Islands over the weekend. Migrants also rallied calling on the government to transfer them to the mainland.