Madrid (EFE).- In 2022, 118,000 refugees requested official protection in Spain, a figure that almost doubles that of the previous year, of which almost 15,000 are minors and only half were granted protection, according to the report “Refuge school, school that welcomes”, presented this Monday.
The work, prepared by the NGOs Entreculturas and Alboan, shows that the people who most requested asylum in Spain were from Venezuela, opting for protection for humanitarian reasons in these cases.
The author of the report, Yolanda González, explained at a press conference that more than seven million people have left their homes in Venezuela and have moved to neighboring countries; Colombia and Peru are the countries that welcomed the most Venezuelan citizens.
In the Spanish case, 12,229 boys and girls up to the age of 13 and 2,780 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 17 applied for international protection in 2022, but 50.5% were denied their request, that is, 7,588 were left without that protection and with “the only open door of administrative irregularity that leads to a complicated scenario” to access rights and integration.
Specifically, 6,261 minors up to 13 years of age and 1,327 between 14 and 17 obtained an unfavorable resolution.
More than a third of the refugees from Ukraine in Spain are minors
On the other hand, with the war in Ukraine, 161,000 people obtained temporary protection in Spain, of which more than a third are children.
With the aim of achieving an “inclusive” education, González has stressed the need to follow good practices as in the case of Ukraine, when 17,000 minors were enrolled in three months and more than 30,000 in one year.
The two NGOs consider that “barriers” that prevent refugees from being fully integrated into the educational system must be eliminated and early schooling must be provided, as well as addressing the socio-emotional reality of migrants.
In Spain, the early school leaving rate for migrants amounts to 30% compared to 11% for Spanish nationals, and grade repetition doubles in the case of foreigners, reaching 50%, according to the report data.
Political will
Both NGOs have demanded “political will” to respond to “the educational reception of children and adolescents who migrate to Spain.”
“They cannot forget that they are children, regardless of their administrative situation,” González stressed.
Education, the key
Among its recommendations to the international community and states, to Spanish cooperation and donors, are the following:
-Guarantee the right to education of migrant and displaced children and adolescents without exception.
-Increase the level of financing and public budgets for education.
-Strengthen the education aid system for Latin America.
-Promote the cultural sensitivity of educational systems.