Melilla : Unicef denounces the living conditions of minor migrants

The situation of minor migrants in Melilla is worrying according to the United Nations. The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which monitors and reports on implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child by governments that ratify the Convention, urged Spain to reform the protocol on unaccompanied foreign minors, said the Spanish radio Cadena Ser.

The UN committee also called the Iberian country to adopt the necessary measure which would ensure that these minors are properly identified, in order to work on their asylum applications and guarantee adequate living conditions for them in the centers where they are housed.

About 1,000 unaccompanied minors are currently in Melilla, according to official UN data dating back to October 2017. About 100 of these minors are not identified and most of them are placed under the tutelage of the Autonomous City. Moreover, they regularly escape reception centers, said Francisco Fernandez Marugán, Defender of the People (the Spanish equivalent of the Defender of Rights), when speaking to deputies and senators, urging them to «go see for themselves what's going on».

For the record, the Spanish TV channel La Sexta has broadcast images of the reception center La Purísima, Melilla, showcasing the unhealthy and inhuman conditions in which children and minors live.