The president of the Assembly of Extremadura, Blanca Martínhas participated in the working group ‘Mixed Population and Human Rights Movements’ of the Conference of Regional Legislative Assemblies of Europe, CALRE, meeting in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria under the presidency of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, where he had the opportunity to present the actions and good practices carried out from Extremadura in this subject.
Martín began by recognizing that, although Extremadura has not had the experiences of the regions of countries such as Italy, Greece or the community of the Canary Islands, given its geographical location, “we have always been a welcoming land”. Remembering the 2006 cayuco crisis that the Canary Islands suffered, “Extremadura was one of the first to make itself available for the shelter of people, especially minors, in the centers of the region.”
Among the most recent projects, the president of the Assembly of Extremadura explained the various actions that are carried out with the current refugee crisis as a framework for action. Among them she cited the actions developed by the Extremadura Agency for International Development CooperationAEXCID, in collaboration with the Spanish Commission for Refugee Assistance, CEAR, of two reports on the Greek and Italian case and specifically in the latter with the collection of testimonies about the seriousness of the situation in Libya, as the country of origin of the humanitarian crisis.
Likewise, he recalled that the Assembly of Extremadura carried out, on June 20, on the occasion of World Refugee Day, the conference ‘Crisis of the Right to Asylum: the role of the media in defense of refugees’, organized by the Extremaduran cooperation agency. In them, prestigious professionals from the field of media and international social organizations contributed their vision on this matter, focusing on the perspective of the media.
Martín stated that only one day after those days, the Extremadura Assembly approved, in plenary session, a Pronunciation Proposal, at the initiative of the Socialist Parliamentary Group and the Podemos Parliamentary Group, to ask the Government of Spain for a State Pact “that is focused on welcoming refugees and asylum.” This initiative was approved with the abstention of the Mixed Group.
“The Assembly understood that, given the failure by the Government of Spain to comply with the reception quota, it had to be made clear that there were communities willing to welcome families scattered throughout Europe,” he declared, in addition to adding that this initiative also contemplated the reform of the regulations of Law 12/2009 with other measures.
Blanca Martín explained that Extremadura’s provision regarding shelter is based on two axes, one urban and the other rural. Welcome in cities for families who have arrived in critical condition, and rural as impact measure regarding the problem of depopulation of rural areas. “For the rural centers it was an experience and a way to establish population and fight against dehumanization, all under the tutelage of the Autonomous Government, which is a guarantee for the own development of the families that could be welcomed in Spanish territory,” he said. he.
The president of the Assembly of Extremadura recalled that Spain is a country that has suffered immigration for a long time, “that is why Spain has to keep it in its memory, because history is very important to work on the present and the future.”