Regularisation of migrant people: the requirements of the entities

More than 900 groups and almost 2,000 people request the urgent regularisation of migrants and refugees residing in Spain through the campaign of the Coordinadora Obrim Fronteres (COF). The manifest signed by the entities and sent to the Spanish government and Congress defends that, in a state of emergency like the present one, it is necessary to make an urgent and wide regularization based on human rights and equality to leave no one behind and to move away from utilitarian and temporary measures.

The campaign seeks for support in social media through the hashtags #regularitzacioxtotes and #regularizacionya. The organisations request the registration of residency in the town council of all the people who live in the municipality and the urgent regularisation with a work permit without the need for a work contract. Also, they demand the authorisation to work without a contract for young people under guardianship with a residence permit and the immediate recognition of the condition of the refugees.

The Coordinadora Obrim Fronteres highlights that these are "requirements", not demands nor solicitations. "Migrants do not have access to any assistance and, of all the measures announced, there is none aimed at them", they complain. "This is a state of alert and an exceptional situation: if we cannot do it in this context, we will never do it", they say.

One of the biggest complaints is the utilitarian sense of the government's measure that temporary allows the recruitment of migrants for farm work. "We request the regularisation but not in a utilitarian sense but to defend civil, social and human rights", they assure. They also describe that "having people in conditions of quasi-slavery is an absolute disgrace". The campaign's promoters complain that this is a measure to meet the labour needs and that it is unclear regarding the situation that these people will have to face in the future.

The response to the campaign

The most valuable response to the campaign is the great follow-up and support that it has received from groups and individuals. Social networks have been filled with reports and claims through the hashtags created for the campaign. To join the campaign, you can visit this link where you will find all the information.

Furthermore, a first round of political contacts has begun with meetings between the Congress representatives and the political parties that have acceded to the manifest so far. The aim of the virtual meeting is to evaluate the options to process the proposal in the parliament building. The meeting was formed by Joan Mena (Catalunya en Comú), Albert Botrán (CUP) and Maria Dantas (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya) while it was not possible to count on EH Bildu due to coordination issues.

"We committed to work in a coordinated manner to study how support can be broadened", they say from COF, who also assure that the day after the meeting Podemos joined too. "There is a commitment to keep working in a coordinated manner to achieve this goal", they say.

COF and the entities supporting the campaign have registered a demand via the electronic site of the Spanish Government presidency and the petition has been sent to the involved Ministries, parliamentary groups and other responsible authorities. Thus, it has been made official the request to start "an extraordinary massive regularisation in an urgent way". The Government has already sent its first impressions and has thanked the groups for their concern regarding this situation.