Irun (Gipuzkoa), (EFE).- Migrants in transit cared for in the Irun resources fell by 20% in 2022 to 6,253 people in transit who passed through these facilities, of which 1,063 were women, 50 of them with minors in their care.
The Red Cross has presented these data at the annual meeting of the Inter-institutional Coordination Table for Urgent Care of Migrants in Transit that took place in Gordailua (Irun), chaired by the Minister of Equality, Justice and Social Policies, Nerea Melgosa.
Melgosa has visited the resources of Hilanderas I for the first time, rehabilitated by the Basque Government and managed by the Red Cross within the program of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations.
14 migrants slept in this center tonight, but they had already left the facilities early in the morning to try to cross the border with France, the main objective of the users.
78% of male users
Of the total number of people cared for in this 100-bed center in 2022, 78% were men; 17% women and 5% were minors.
The first quarter of the year was the busiest, with an average of 850 arrivals, while attendance fell by almost half throughout the year.
The average age of the users is 24 years in adult men and 27 years in adult women; while minors are around 4 years in the case of boys and 5 years in the case of girls.
Regarding origin, Guinea Conakry (37%) and Ivory Coast (25%) represent the most frequent nationalities, followed by Sudan (9%), Mali (8%) and Senegal (5%).
New resource in Irun
The new Hilanderas II resource, a place with 120 reinforcement places for the first to make up for the loss of the Irun pilgrims’ hostel within the contingency plan that was activated in March 2021.
Over the past year this resource has not been activated to help migrants in transit, although it was used by Ukrainian refugees heading to autonomous communities in the Mediterranean.
Migration in transit is a “structural reality that requires structural responses” and as long as “the old continent does not recover its humanitarian spirit with the creation of safe corridors, these resources will continue to be needed,” Melgosa told the media.
He recalled that the Working Community of the Pyrenees, chaired by the lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, has requested his direct participation in the Border Cooperation Commission, provided for in the Reconciliation and Cooperation Treaty between Spain and France.
A request that the autonomous communities of the Atlantic Arc Commission also made at their meeting last Monday, indicated the counselor.
I remember the dead in the Bidasoa
Melgosa concluded his speech with a memory of Ibrahim Diallo and Abderraman Bas, the two young men who died in 2022 trying to cross the Bidasoa, and thanked the Red Cross for its work and involvement in managing resources for migrants.
For his part, the coordinator of the Euskadi Red Cross, Aitor Allende, stressed that they provide support to people “according to their vulnerabilities and needs”.
After the visit, the Inter-institutional Coordination Table for Urgent Care for Migrants in Transit has held its annual meeting attended by various departments of the Basque Government, representatives of the Government Delegation in the Basque Country, of the municipalities of Irun and Hondarribia, and different third sector entities.