Spain: unwelcome responsibilities: Spain's failure to protect the rights of unaccompanied migrant children in the Canary Islands

The Canary Islands authorities opened four emergency centers to provide care for several hundred children. Conceived as a temporary solution to deal with an exceptional situation that overloaded existing capacity, these emergency facilities have in effect become permanent—neither regional nor national authorities have any plans to close them.

On the contrary, Canary Islands authorities plan an expansion of emergency center capacity, while national authorities maintain that the situation in the Canary Islands is not within their responsibility.