The Red Cross has decided to once again provide psychosocial assistance to asylum seekers at Madrid-Barajas Airport. The organization made the decision almost a month after departure due to the conditions in which those seeking protection were held at the airfield. For months, the reception in the rooms set up for these people was chaotic, with episodes of overcrowding, bedbug infestations, escapes, poor nutrition and hygiene. Three judges called for “urgent action” by the internal and state police to clarify the situation, and the Ombudsman warned of possible “degrading treatment” of the applicants.
“We have been denouncing this situation for a long time. “We will not leave from one day to the next,” the director of the Red Cross migration sector, José Javier Sánchez Espinosa, told EL PAÍS on January 24. Today, Espinosa explains that the situation has improved and the conditions for a return to work are now in place. “The occupancy rate is much lower, the rooms have been disinfected, they have been cleaned up… It's a different situation,” he claims.
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The withdrawal of the Red Cross did not please the Ministry of Migration, which pays for the contract with the organization, or the police. At the worst moment of the crisis, the Red Cross finally withdrew and also put on hold subcontracting to the cleaning company that was responsible for maintaining the rooms and that the police had to take over. Espinosa is aware of this. “That’s why it was such a thoughtful decision. We could have left many places many times, but as long as there is an opportunity to help people, we will stay. “But when at some point we realize that our presence will have no effect even if we stay, it becomes clear that it is time to go,” he says.
With the return of the Red Cross, the airport crisis is relatively resolved after months of complications. Improvements are still pending, according to Human Trafficking and Immigration Prosecutor Beatriz Sánchez, who recently visited the airport halls. In an interview with EL PAÍS, the prosecutor assured that the conditions “clearly need to be improved.” Sánchez added: “The current conditions are only permissible if it is a critical and urgent moment.” But situations like this can happen again. We believe that there must be adequately equipped facilities that can be modular, for example, in order to be prepared if it happens again.”
The airport crisis began brewing in the summer when hundreds of Somalis arrived who managed to make a stopover in Madrid using passports purchased in Kenya. They were mainly joined by Moroccans and Senegalese, which exceeds the capacity of the police and the rooms for processing asylum applications. There were weeks of chaos in which the Interior took some reinforcement measures to stop the flows.
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