{"id":95976,"date":"2018-06-25T16:17:06","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T14:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/?p=95976"},"modified":"2020-01-13T09:21:03","modified_gmt":"2020-01-13T08:21:03","slug":"unassisted-barcelonas-refugee-services-strain-to-meet-increasing-arrivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/unassisted-barcelonas-refugee-services-strain-to-meet-increasing-arrivals\/","title":{"rendered":"Unassisted, Barcelona\u00b4s refugee services strain under increasing arrivals"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the number of refugees<\/strong> seeking aid in Barcelona continues to rise, local reception services grow more and more overwhelmed. According to the Ignasi Calb\u00f3 Troyano, head of the Barcelona, Refuge City Plan, numbers from these services already show a huge projection for the total number of refugees<\/strong> arriving in the city this year, with over 3,589 refugees<\/strong> just in the first semester of 2018 compared to the total of 4,405 treated in 2017. <\/span><\/p>\n

These number depicts the number of refugees<\/strong> treated specifically by\u00a0Barcelona municipal program SAIER (Servicio de Atenci\u00f3n a Inmigrantes, Emigrantes i Refugiados), the city\u00b4s main reception service for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers<\/strong>. This year\u00b4s influx is a continuation of drastic growth from the past three years. SAIER data shows that the 4,405 refugees<\/strong> received by the program in 2017 is nearly triple the amount of 1,374 that was treated<\/span> in 2015, and the growth for this year suggests at least 8,600 refugees<\/strong> by the end of 2018.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With still no money coming from the central Spanish government to help with municipal reception, integration or housing services, Barcelona\u00b4s city government has to foot the \u20ac5.5 million bill for all municipal services and resources related to refugee and migrant<\/strong> care. Currently, most of this budget designated for post-reception integration services for refugees<\/strong> is instead going into mass emergency housing in the city to assist the over 200 refugees and migrants arriving per day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe provide 217 accommodations daily only to migrants and refugees<\/strong>. Added to the Red Cross shelter program covered by the state, and added to the shelter that is provided by the Social Services of the state of Barcelona, you have to add 100 more, at least,\u201d Troyano said. \u201cIt’s a lot of people every day, and 90 percent of it is paid for by the municipality. Its crazy. It’s really crazy.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Infographic showing the number of refugees attended to yearly by SAIER. The first five months of this year suggest a projection of almost double from last year by the end of 2018 \/ made by Laura Place<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

These arrivals are now being grouped into pensions and shelters throughout various districts in the city, making up around 15 percent of city\u00b4s shelter population. This week, the Barcelona, Refugee<\/strong> City department within the Ayuntamiento de Barcelona <\/span>teamed up with the Spanish Red Cross<\/span> to provide 150 more accommodations throughout the city as well as more emergency medical services to the large number of vulnerable families. However, these resources are still not enough. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not have the capacity\u201d
\n<\/b>On June 20, also recognized as World Refugee Day, <\/strong><\/span>the Social Work College of Catalonia denounced the current State system<\/span><\/a> regarding processing of refugees<\/strong> and migrants, and demanded sufficient resources for social workers in first reception services to meet this influx, warning of the danger of the system\u00b4s collapse if more training and resources are not given to workers in these offices. <\/span><\/p>\n

Soazig Noirault, Coordinator of First Reception Services at SAIER, said that their services are completely overwhelmed, leaving many visitors to the office, a mix of migrants, other refugees and asylum seekers<\/strong>, without the care they need as a result. <\/span><\/p>\n

“The service is completey collapsed,” Noirault said. \u201cWe attend to more than 3,000 people each month at SAIER and 1,000 people are left unattended because we do not have the capacity.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A majority of the 3,589\u00a0refugee<\/strong> arrivals this year have been displaced individuals and families coming principally from Venezuela, Ukraine, Colombia, Honduras, and El Salvador<\/strong>, according to Calb\u00f3 Troyano. <\/span>Venezuela<\/strong> was the largest group received by SAIER in 2017<\/span><\/a>, making up 27 percent of the year\u00b4s total refugees<\/strong>. 2017 was also the second year in a row that Venezuela submitted the most petitions for asylum status in Spain with 10,350 applications, according to data from CEAR (Comisi\u00f3n Espa\u00f1ola de Ayuda al Refugiado). <\/span><\/p>\n

When a petition for refugee<\/strong> or asylum status is rejected by the central Spanish government, the person is considered to be in the country under a status known as \u201cirregular migration<\/strong>\u201d, where the person is no longer qualified for state aid. Spain rejects 65 percent of asylum applications leaving refuge cities like Barcelona and Valencia with only their own municipal money to provide assistance. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is that funds from the EU and Spain are only able to be invested in regular migration<\/strong>, and regular migration<\/strong> is the exception to immigration in Barcelona. The refugees<\/strong> here are irregular.<\/strong>\u201d Calb\u00f3 Troyano said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

The memorial at Barceloneta Beach commemorating the drownings in the Mediterrean Sea. The number on the meter now reads over 950 deaths for 2018 \/ Photo by Laura Place<\/p><\/div>\n

Along with arriving via methods such as train or plane, people arrive via irregular<\/strong> means such as dangerous boat journeys across the Mediterranean Sea. According to the Missing Migrants Program, 960 people have drowned this year in the Mediterranean Sea as of June 25. The rising number of deaths is also commemorated through a memorial on Barceloneta Beach, which keeps track of the number of drownings in the Mediterranean Sea through a \u00a8shame counter\u00a8. <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

There are services in Barcelona available to people of irregular<\/strong> status who still cannot return to their home country, although they are similarly understaffed and underfunded. Nausica is a municipal reception program that provides services to vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers such as psychological and professional support and assistance with integration and job searching to help with the transition to an autonomous and independence. However, the current city budget also does not allow for hiring more employees to meet the refugee<\/strong> demand, and Calb\u00f3 Troyano said Nausica\u00b4s 100 employees should be closer to 400.<\/span><\/p>\n

An invisible problem
\n<\/b>Much of the recent focus within the region on refugees<\/strong> has been on last week\u00b4s arrival to Valencia of Aquarius, a boat of 629 refugees<\/strong> that was rejected entry into Italy last week. Around half have been permitted to seek refuge in France, and those staying in Spain have been given 45 days by the Spanish government to figure out their situation as non-irregular<\/strong> migrants<\/strong>. While a desperate situation, Calb\u00f3 Troyano said this arrival of Aquarius, which received international media and government attention, is not unlike the steady stream of migrants and refugees<\/strong> arriving regularly to Spain and to Barcelona. Just earlier this month, <\/span>nearly 500 refugees<\/strong> were rescued trying to cross the Strait of Gibraltar in small boats to seek aid in Spain<\/span><\/span>, putting a huge strain on reception services in Tarifa.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAquarius is just the tip of the iceberg of this huge problem we have in this country with migrants and refugees<\/strong>,\u201d he said.. \u201cWe are in a trench, and there are no resources from the central government.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Despite heavy influx, there still exists an \u201cinvisibility\u201d of refugees<\/strong> within Barcelona, he said, that can also be attributed to the dispersion of the refugees<\/strong> throughout the city, an effort to prevent prejudice towards \u201cghetto\u201d neighborhoods that ends up being a double-edged sword. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey are scattered among all districts of Barcelona, which is something that I am proud of\u2026. but the problem is that it\u00b4s then invisible,\u201d Calb\u00f3 Troyano said. \u201cIt’s good in terms of social policy, but people still believe that there are no refugees and migrants<\/strong> coming into the city.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A large number of Barcelona\u00b4s refugees<\/strong> come from Spanish-speaking countries in Central and South America. While this makes their integration into Spain easier, Calb\u00f3 Troyano worries that it also lowers the visibility of huge populations of vulnerable people\u00a0in the city. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause they speak Spanish, they are easily integrated. And nobody sees that they are here.\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Demanding change
\n<\/b>With the recent implementation of a new prime minister in Spain, it’s possible that things will start to change, but there ultimately needs to be an upheaval of the current status quo, Calb\u00f3 Troyano said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole system needs to change – it\u00b4s centralized, it infantilizes the whole refugee<\/strong> experience, and its not driven to the autonomy of the refugees<\/strong>, but as a tick in the box in how to treat a migrant<\/strong>. It\u00b4s not going to support the real integration as a migrant.<\/strong>\u201d Calb\u00f3 Troyano said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Calb\u00f3 Troyano said is he hoping for a budget increase from the Barcelona City Council that would raise the current \u20ac5.5 million by another \u20ac0.5 million to contribute to local services.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main photo: SAIER offices \/ photo via the Ayuntamiento de Barcelona\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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\n 4.7<\/strong>\n \/<\/span>\n 5<\/strong>\n (<\/span>\n 4<\/strong>\n \n votes <\/span>\n )<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the number of refugees seeking aid in Barcelona continues to rise, local reception services grow more and more overwhelmed. According to the Ignasi Calb\u00f3 Troyano, head of the Barcelona, Refuge City Plan, numbers from these services already show a huge projection for the total number of refugees arriving in the city this year, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":96002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[306],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95976"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95976"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109342,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95976\/revisions\/109342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}