David del Campo, director of International Cooperation and Humanitarian Action at Save the Children, criticizes the blindfold policy of the Ministry of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in relation to the treatment of immigrants. He asks for safe routes to migration and calls the call effect argument “ignorant”. He insists on the importance of STC staying in Afghanistan despite the withdrawal of troops, and regrets that it has been “normalized” to violate the convention on the rights of the child.
You are the head of Save the Children’s international delegation in Mauritania since 2006. Is it a key country to extend human rights in Africa? It is a testing ground for international cooperation, in part because it is one of the most stable in the region. He is making progress in child protection, in nutrition … And the Arab world and neighboring countries are watching him.
It is also the country of transit to the Canary Islands. Yes, but we are here because the needs of children are enormous. In Mauritania there is no inequality, there is only poverty. 92% of children do not finish high school. The darkest and most cruel of the human condition occurs.
Now they are implementing a project for the protection of minors with funds from the Generalitat. They have been absent for 10 years, in 2011 they stopped investing in cooperation. Now they have returned and I think this makes Catalonia better. The protection of minors is essential because hunger and violence are permanent threats in their lives. They must have a safety net to fall on.
Does it prevent them from dying at sea? There is no more effective system for managing migration than a protection system. His desire to flee is reduced. Minister Marlaska does not listen to the NGOs on the ground. I wish I did because I would make better decisions. He prefers a tight police control with helicopters, radars … I am happy to see the Civil Guard bordering the coast of Mauritania. But I would like you to visit the protection centers and understand what is happening.
What would you say? That there is no security system that can curb personal ambition in the face of despair. The calling effect shows quite a bit of ignorance. There is a push for expulsion from the land where they live due to an absolute lack of opportunities, and they know that in Spain there is an alternative. If you tell a kid from Mauritania to wait three years for a visa, they will.
Do they listen to you more in Mauritania? Mauritania does not suffer from economic asphyxia but it does not have enough to manage budgets. They do not build more schools, they do not rehabilitate them, they do not hire teachers … There is a lack of management capacity and this is the cooperation that the Government of Spain should do. They listen to us, but the case they make to us is relative, they are not full democracies. It is surprising that Spain does not do it either.
What do you think of the welcome of those who arrive? These children are the best Spaniards we could have, they will give their lives for our country. I do not understand why we want to punish them so much, wait until they turn 18 and fall into irregularity to expel them as soon as possible.
In August the ministry opted for deportation. A botch that weakens us internationally. Spain deliberately and planned breach of children’s rights. We are used to seeing atrocities at the borders but not from a democratic government lying, manipulating and without asking for forgiveness.
You have visited the Ambera Malian refugee camp. What have you seen? There are 66,0000 refugees in the camp, out of no less than 20,000 and they are increasing. They are fleeing a very serious conflict, with much violence and hunger. Understanding what is happening in Mali, in Niger, in Ethiopia, in Chad should be mandatory. He is not the one who calls them, he is the one who expels him. Most want to live in their country.
In the world, are children’s rights respected? It is the most ratified convention but the most unfulfilled. And nobody is scandalized. In Spain no party has questioned the Interior about what happened in Ceuta, we are quite alone.
In the summer he decided to keep the Save The Children delegation in Afghanistan despite the withdrawal of troops. We have been there for 45 years, it is difficult to find a place in the world where being a boy and a girl is more complicated. We did not leave in 2017 when they besieged our headquarters and killed three people, we will not leave now. The West is concerned that the children are in Taliban custody but it is irrelevant, their situation is the same. If we can help it change, we will work with all the governments of the world.
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There are those who prefer to demand that countries comply with Human Rights. Yes, from an office in Madrid, London or Washington. But we want to help children who need us wherever they are. 100 years ago the founder of STC had to leave the UK because she helped Russian children during the First World War.
It seems that it hasn’t changed that much … The United States treats children who cross the border into Mexico as if they were terrorists. A child is a child in any place but they still insist on pointing out where they come from.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com