Spanish police classifies some African child refugees as adults after migration influx persists

A surge in the number of migrants making the treacherous journey from West Africa to the Spanish Canary Islands is straining local authorities, with human rights groups warning that many child migrants are being wrongly classed as adults by Spanish police, putting them at increased risk.

So far this year, more than 32,000 migrants have arrived on the Canary Islands from West Africa – the highest number since 2006.

These children are out along with adults they aren’t related to and without the protection of the authorities.

“If they are treated as adults, they can be expelled to their countries of origin. They are also leaving (state) protection. Sometimes they are transferred to the mainland and they are without protection, they are alone as minors in Spain,” said a regional Amnesty International officer.

Local authorities say Spain’s central government isn’t doing enough to help.

“They have left us with 4,700 minors, with NGOs and resources saturated, with difficulties because the screening of who is a minor and who is not a minor is not being done”, local authorities point out.

They say the European Union should do more to tackle the root causes of emigration from Africa.

Amnesty International is calling on the Spanish government and the European Union to make sure that child migrants are properly screened and to provide safer routes for refugees.