HRW: Canary Islands: What You Can Do

Arms
Business
Children's Rights
Counterterrorism
Economic, Social & Cultural Rights
Health & Human Rights
HIV/AIDS
International Justice
LGBT Rights
Migrants
Prisons
Refugees
United Nations
Women's Rights
More...

The Other Face of The Canary Islands:
Rights Violations Against Migrants and Asylum Seekers

"I entered the Fuerteventura camp…It's a prison. We don't even see the sun. For twenty-four days I did not see the sun."
--Forty-year-old man from Guinea-Bissau, detained after arriving undocumented in the Canary Islands.

Mention of Spain's Canary Islands usually conjures up images of a sun-drenched vacationland. But for migrants and asylum seekers caught arriving there without proper documentation, the reality is darker. Migrants are crowded into dirty, makeshift detention centers housing up to eight times as many detainees as they should. Spanish authorities routinely violate migrants' and asylum seekers' rights under Spanish and international law by impeding access to adequate legal and interpretation services and according their cases only cursory judicial review. Asylum seekers arriving on the islands face significant barriers to filing claims for refugee status.

What You Can Do

Write to the Spanish authorities to urge them to ensure humane, fair treatment of migrants and asylum seekers. Click here for a sample letter.

Mr. Mariano Rajoy
Interior Minister of Spain
Paseo de la Castellana, 5
28046 Madrid
Spain
Fax: ++ 34 91 537 1003

Mr. Enrique Fernández-Miranda y Lozana
Secretary of State for Immigration
C/ Amador de los Ríos, 7
28010 Madrid
Spain
Fax: ++ 34 91 537 1465

Mr. Carlos Guervós
Deputy Director of Immigration
Interior Ministry
Amador de los Ríos, 7
28010 Madrid
Spain
Fax: ++ 34 91 537 1191

Mr. Juan Gabriel Cotino Ferrer
Director General of the Police
C/ Miguel Ángel, 5
28010 Madrid
Spain
Fax: ++ 34 91 308 6379

Mr. Enrique Múgica
Ombudsman of Spain
(El Defensor del Pueblo)
Paseo de Eduardo Dato, 31
28010 Madrid
Spain
Fax: ++ 34 91 308 1158

Mr. Antonio López Ojeda
Representative of the Spanish Government in the Canaries
(Delegado Del Gobierno en Canarias)
Pza. de la Feria, 24
35003 Las Palmas
Spain
Fax: ++ 34 92 836 3994

Mr. Román Rodríguez Rodríguez
President of the Canary Islands
Plz. Dr. Rafael O'Shanahan, nº 1
35071 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Spain
Fax: ++ 34 92 845 2144

Mr. José Maria Aznar
President of Spain
Complejo de la Moncloa
C.P. 28071 Madrid
Spain
Fax ++ 34 91 335 3535, ++ 34 91 390 0751

Spanish Embassy in your country: click here to connect to Embassyworld's database

Related Links

News Sources (Spanish Language)

Institutions (Spanish Language)

Institutions (English Language)

UNHCR

Contribute to Human Rights Watch