The Government has taken a new step this Tuesday to strengthen the care of migrant minors who remain in Ceuta. The Council of Ministers has approved 550,000 euros to create a specialized unit capable of acting in emergencies that overwhelm the protection resources of any territory.
The Multidisciplinary Unit for the Support of Unaccompanied Migrant Children in Emergencies (UMAIME) will begin its activity in the autonomous city. Several professionals are already on the ground and the deployment will be completed in the coming days.
Save the Children and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) will be responsible for launching the device. The team will have specialists in childhood, migration, and intercultural mediation who will work alongside Ceuta's services in direct care, interviews, and individual processing of cases.
Urgent reinforcement for Ceuta
The new unit arrives with Ceuta's protection system under extraordinary pressure. The Minister of Youth and Childhood, Sira Rego, stated this Monday in Congress that 1,478 children and adolescents are housed in the city's centers, about 50 times above their ordinary capacity. Among them are 760 girls and 233 minors under 13 years old.
Rego considered it "essential" to transfer minors to the Peninsula to relieve Ceuta's resources and ensure adequate care. The Ministry has prepared 500 places in small centers for especially vulnerable girls, through entities dedicated to child protection. The operation is pending the consent of the Autonomous City.
The minister also defended bilateral agreements between autonomous communities and foster care as ways to accelerate departures. The department has begun to explore this last possibility given the offer made by numerous families in recent weeks.
In addition to these measures, there are the 25 million extraordinary euros approved by the Sectoral Conference on Childhood and Adolescence to address the emergency. The fund will allow financing places, specialized personnel, food, schooling, and healthcare while the administrative situation of each minor is resolved.
The Ministry of Youth and Childhood has also granted 160,000 euros to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The organization will work on the early detection of minors who may need international protection, will offer legal advice, and will provide comprehensive care during the processing of their cases.
The first members of the UMAIME are already working in Ceuta. The team will be fully deployed in the coming days to reinforce care and expedite the files of each child and adolescent.
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