Human Rights Watch has formally requested a meeting with Minister of Interior Mariano Rajoy Brey and Enrique Fernández-Miranda, the Government Delegate for Foreigners and Immigration, and permission to visit the Fuerteventura and Lanzarote detention facilities. Government Delegate Fernandez-Miranda has personally denounced the Human Rights Watch report released February 21, while other officials have defended government practices in the Canary Islands. Still, other officials, including the Deputy Ombudswoman, have supported the groups' findings.

"Our report identified real problems that require urgent attention," said Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "We want to engage in a constructive dialogue about what concrete steps the government can take to address these concerns, to balance its legitimate pursuit of immigration control with respect for migrants' human rights."

Human Rights Watch's investigation, conducted at the end of 2001, involved interviews with over thirty migrants who had been detained in the Canary Island facilities, as well as lawyers, doctors, migrants' and aid organizations and government representatives familiar with the situation.

In the report, "The Other Face of the Canary Islands: Rights Violations Against Migrants and Asylum Seekers," Human Rights Watch said that the conditions in Fuerteventura and Lazarote-converted airport installations-fall below Spanish, European, and international legal standards. Researchers also found that detainees receive virtually no information about their rights, are rarely provided with interpretation or translation services, have inadequate access to meaningful legal representation and individualized judicial oversight of their cases, and find it extremely difficult to apply for asylum.

Since the release of Human Rights Watch's report, the Spanish government has consistently expressed disagreement with the group's findings and conclusions, categorically stating that the fundamental rights of migrants are not being denied in the Canary Islands and that the treatment migrants receive is "ideal." Mr. Fernández-Miranda stated before the Congress of Deputies on February 26, 2002 that in his opinion the report is "unfocused and inaccurate."

In contrast, Deputy Ombudswoman María Luisa Cava de Llano visited the Fuerteventura detention facility on the same day, describing it as "horrific and third-world-like." Ms. Cava de Llano expressed particular concern over Human Rights Watch's findings that migrants receive inadequate legal assistance, translation, and interpretation services. To date, the Fuerteventura facility remains closed to humanitarian and legal organizations other than the Spanish Red Cross.

The report on conditions on the Canary Islands is part of a series of Human Rights Watch investigations into the treatment of migrants in Europe. Human Rights Watch published several commentaries on conditions in Greece last year. Reports on implementation of Spain's new foreigner law and on the treatment of Moroccan children in the North African Spanish cities of Melilla and Ceuta will be published later this year.