Casablanca – Spain’s Council of Ministers has approved a €550,000 grant to establish a multidisciplinary unit supporting unaccompanied migrant children during emergencies such as the situation currently facing Ceuta.
The Unit for Multidisciplinary Support for Unaccompanied Migrant Children in Emergencies, known as UMAIME, will work on interviews and the processing of case files involving children arriving without their families. The unit will also provide direct support to the minors.
The Ministry of Youth and Children said Tuesday that the grant has been awarded to Save the Children, which will work with UNICEF to put the unit into operation. The full team is expected to be deployed in Ceuta in the coming days.
Several members are already in the Spanish enclave, where they are carrying out tasks related to caring for unaccompanied migrant children and supporting the management of their case files, according to the ministry.
The unit is made up of professionals with expertise in children’s issues, intercultural mediation and migration. It was designed to be deployed in territories receiving migrants when local protection systems become overwhelmed, as authorities say is currently happening in Ceuta.
The funding is part of a wider package of measures approved by the Spanish government in response to the situation in the enclave.
As part of the same support plan, the Council of Ministers also approved a €160,000 grant for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, to carry out programs aimed at protecting refugee children.
Those programs include the early identification of children’s international protection needs, legal advice and comprehensive support.
The Spanish government has also approved additional funding for Ceuta to strengthen its capacity to receive and care for unaccompanied migrant children. The broader package includes €63.6 million for the city’s government, on top of €25 million approved the previous week.
The additional funding is intended to support reception services as well as legal, psychosocial, educational and health assistance for unaccompanied migrant children.
According to the Spanish government, the city’s child protection system is currently caring for around 1,500 unaccompanied migrant children.
