At least four people have been found dead on a migrant boat off the Canary Islands as conflict in West Africa forces tens of thousands of refugees to flee to the Spanish territory.
The vessel was spotted nearly 200 kilometres south of El Hierro, one of the smallest of the Canary Islands, according to local media.
A rescue operation took place on Sunday afternoon, with three helicopters deployed to airlift the injured to safety.
Over 23,000 migrants arrived in the Atlantic territory of Spain during 2020, compared to less than 3,000 in 2019, according to country’s Interior Ministry.
A worsening trend
Hundreds of men, women and children died last year fleeing West African countries to make the seaborne journey in overcrowded boats, according to the refugee agency UNHCR.
Clare Loughnan, a social and political sciences lecturer at the University of Melbourne, said restrictions on movement due to COVID-19 had severely impacted vulnerable people in the region.
“Border closures which have been instigated by COVID-19 means that people naturally turn to other measures to reach safety, in this case the Canary Islands, because they’re a Spanish territory relatively close to the north-western part of the African continent,” Dr Loughnan told SBS News.
A report by the Spanish government points to population growth, the effects of climate change, social inequalities and armed conflict in West Africa as some of the contributing factors forcing people to flee.
A woman is disembarked on a stretcher from a Spanish coast guard vessel upon its arrival at the port of Los Cristianos rescuing 41 migrants on 26 March, 2021. Source: AFP
As arrivals to the territory increased nearly eightfold, deficiencies in the system were intensified. The report criticised the lack of adequate facilities and access to legal assistance on the islands.
In February, dozens of migrants protested against poor conditions in Las Raices camp, which they said included poor food, lack of facilities and scant medical attention.
In March 2020, the UNHCR and International Organisation for Migration suspended some resettlement programs due to the pandemic.
Dr Loughnan said this decision came amid a hardening of the European Union’s policy on refugees.
“Even though the EU speaks the language of human rights, unfortunately we’re seeing the move to greater controls of refugee movement,” she said.
