GRAN CANARIA – In a seedy neighborhood of Las Palmas, it’s a sight few British tourists see when they fly to the Canary Islands to soak up the winter sunshine.
Next to the military base is Canarias 50, a Red Cross camp that can house up to 1,000 migrants.
New arrivals were coming and going, but some were rummaging through nearby dumpsters. I visited. No one is allowed to work six months after their asylum application is accepted, so they rely on handouts from the Red Cross or charitable foundations. Others slept on the beach in the city’s Las Canteras.
Tourists are largely unaware of the human crisis unfolding around them. The more than 11,000 migrants who arrived in the first six weeks of 2024 are barely visible in resorts in Gran Canaria and popular islands such as Tenerife, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, the Spanish government said of traces, a number seven times higher than last year.
One clue is the cooks, cleaners or other workers who ended up on the island after a perilous journey of more than a week from West Africa to Spain in rickety boats.
During the pandemic, hundreds of people camped on the marina in Alguineguin, Gran Canaria, because they had nowhere to go. Now Spain is whisking them away from the island – away from the eyes of millions of foreign tourists.
The fragile vessels, filled with men, women and children from Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Morocco or Mauritania, are picked up at sea by the Spanish coast guard and towed into the archipelago’s ports. From there, the Red Cross picks up migrants from overcrowded boats and provides them with medical help and a change of clothes – often two or three sizes too big.
Juan Carlos Lorenzo, president of the Spanish Refugee Assistance Committee, a Canary Islands NGO, said tourists did not see the migrants arriving. “Sometimes they are taken off the island within a week,” he told I in his office in Las Palmas.
The number of migrants entering Spain irregularly by sea increased by 300% in January, with the vast majority arriving in the Canary Islands.
Lorenzo admitted that the Spanish islands would face an “unbearable” situation if arrivals continued to grow at the same rate. “Last year 39,000 people arrived in the Canary Islands, a record for the past 30 years. The start of 2024 is equally tense,” he said.
He added that more than 11,700 people arrived between January 1 and February 15, but these people were lucky.
Migrant aid group Walking Borders said more than 6,000 people died on the journey last year.
A report from the International Organization for Migration said European countries tightened their borders last year but did not see the expected drop in arrivals. The largest number of tourists went to Italy, accounting for 57%, followed by Spain.
The number of asylum applications in the EU surged 18% to 1.14 million in 2023, the highest level since the 2015-16 migration crisis, according to the EU’s asylum agency.
Social and political unrest in countries such as Senegal, as well as economic conflicts in Mauritania, Mali and Morocco, have contributed to the exodus.
Lorenzo said most migrants arriving in the Canary Islands were transferred to four main camps on the mainland within a week.
Meanwhile, the Canary Islands government said 5.6 million British tourists holidayed in the Canary Islands last year, an increase of 13.3% from 4.9 million the year before.
Immigration will be an issue in the UK, US presidential and European elections later this year.
Lorenzo said policy must change to see immigration as a “value” rather than something negative, pointing out that this had led to EU workers leaving the UK.
“[In Britain] Vision problems…when you hear about immigration policy [Prime Minister Rishi] Sunak sends people to third countries such as Rwanda to seek asylum, which is questionable in terms of rights protection,” he said.
“This is a lost opportunity for everyone. For individuals and for the country because there are great difficulties in covering all jobs, especially in transport.
“This decline is not unusual in the EU. Immigration policies have become more restrictive.”
Jessica de León, Minister of Tourism of the Canary Islands, said: “Neither the UK nor any other market has been affected by the migrant crisis in the Islands. In fact, you only have to look at the numbers: As of 2023, the Canary Islands The number of tourists was 16.2 million, an increase of 11% compared to 2022; the number of British tourists was 5.6 million, an increase of 13.3% compared to 2022.”
Calvin Lucock, a former British hotelier who set up a foundation to help migrants arriving on the islands, said: “Immigration has not affected tourism at all. The number of tourists arriving is at a record high.”
Edward Timon, “ canary news Most tourists know nothing about migrating to the islands, the newspaper said.
“Tourism and immigration don’t mix well. Talking about immigration is not good tourism marketing. Often, tourists don’t see anything. Residents [expat] People are more aware,” he told I.
Back at Camp 50 in the Canary Islands, 28-year-old Abibou Diaww, who arrived from Senegal with his wife three weeks ago, faces an uncertain future.
“I don’t know what will happen next. It depends on the Red Cross,” he said in French.
Follow us on Google news ,Twitter , and Join Whatsapp Group of thelocalreport.in
