Arrival Of Unaccompanied Minors To Spain Rises 566 Percent Since 2015

The arrival of unaccompanied underage immigrants to Spain grew by 566 percent between 2015 and 2017, according to the data published by the Spanish Attorney's office.

MADRID, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Sep, 2018 ) :The arrival of unaccompanied underage immigrants to Spain grew by 566 percent between 2015 and 2017, according to the data published by the Spanish Attorney's office.

Some 97 percent of the 2,345 underage migrants who came to Spain in 2017 were male, with 56.3 percent coming from Morocco, 19.9 percent from Algeria, followed by 8.4 percent from Guinea, 7.5 percent from Cote d'Ivoire and 2.8 percent from the Gambia.

The document also showed that 126 babies (in this case accompanied by adults) also made the dangerous journey crossing the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa to Spain in inflatable dinghies in 2017.

On September, 6, the European Council's Special Representative on Migration and Refugees, Tomas Bocek, warned of the perils facing unaccompanied minors.

"Dozens of unaccompanied children in Melilla and Ceuta (Spanish North-African enclaves) have fallen out of the protection system, living in the streets and trying to get on board ferries heading to the mainland," he said.

The number of underage immigrants traveling to Spain in 2018 is expected to increase further, with over 30,000 migrants in total reaching Spanish territory in the first eight months this year, up 163 percent from the same period last year.