Following the arrival in the Canary Islands of large numbers of unaccompanied children who had requested or had the intention to request international protection in Spain, the applicant -the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands- requested the Spanish State Administration access for these minors to the national asylum reception system. On 25 March 2025, the Supreme Court issued an interim measure ordering the State Administration to guarantee, within 10 days, access and permanence in the national reception system for international protection to the aforementioned minors who were at the time under the custody of the child protection services of the Canary Islands. Upon the State’s failure to comply with this decision, the parties were called to a public hearing on 29 May 2025, for the State to report to the court on its progress regarding the individual assessment and placement of these children under the National Reception System, as well as those still pending assessment and placement. In the event that the Reception System lacked sufficient resources to meet demand, the State was also to report on the specific steps taken, and on the protocols and timelines agreed with the regional administration to address the situation. The court noted that the State Administration had not even produced a complete list of the approximately one thousand children in this situation, many of whom had not yet been able to lodge their asylum applications over the course of an entire year, and that cooperation between the State and the Canary Islands had only been initiated days before the hearing.

The court emphasized that unaccompanied minors who seek asylum are entitled to full rights as asylum applicants under EU and Spanish law, respectively under the recast Reception Conditions Directive and the national Asylum Act (Law 12/2009 of 30 October on asylum and subsidiary protection), including access to information about their rights and obligations, documentation, legal aid, interpretation services, education, access to the labour market for those of working age, and to material reception conditions even after reaching the age of majority. The court further noted that while the State retains exclusive competence to guarantee access to asylum procedures, and shares competence for reception conditions with the Autonomous Communities, the Canary Islands region had until then been solely bearing the responsibility for the children’s care. The court denounced the State’s repeated failures to provide adequate resources and address the delays in processing applications, which continued to hinder the children from accessing the aforementioned rights.

In conclusion, the Supreme Court issued interim measures ordering the State to provide the administrative offices in charge of international protection with the necessary means within 30 days to process the minors’ applications. The court reminded the Administration of the 6 day time limit to register applications. It also ordered the State to effectively coordinate with the Canary Islands region within 15 days in order to ensure access to reception conditions. Lastly, it ordered the State to identify the responsible officials and to report to the Supreme Court biweekly on the progress made in implementing the measures, under warning of coercive enforcement in case of non-compliance.