Cantabria is the third autonomous community with the lowest volume of protections elaborated and granted
MADRID/SANTANDER, 29 (PRESS EUROPE)
Spain surpassed 160,000 temporary protections for war refugees in Ukraine more than ten months after the start of the war following Russia’s invasion of the country. Of these, 1,469 were granted in Cantabria, the third autonomous community where the least, as reported this Thursday by the Ministry of the Interior.
The department headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska explained that, since its activation on March 10 and until its closure on December 28, the Asylum and Refuge Office (OAR) of the Ministry of the Interior and the National Police have drawn up and granted a total of 160,756 protections for Ukrainian refugees in Spain.
“This data places Spain among the European countries that have granted greater protection to citizens and residents of Ukraine”, he underlined, adding that this is possible thanks to the mechanism implemented urgently by the Spanish government on March 10 to comply all the agreement of the European Union, with which, for the first time in history, the application of the Temporary Protection Directive was authorized.
Thus, 63.47 percent of the people who have obtained this temporary protection are women (102,034) and 36.53 percent men (58,722). By age group, 33.69% are under the age of 18, 25.33% are between 19 and 35, 34.17% are between 36 and 64, and 6.8% are over 65 years old.
Furthermore, the majority of people who have obtained temporary protection, 98.31 percent, are citizens of Ukraine, while the remaining 1.69 percent correspond to citizens of other nationalities who resided legally in Ukrainian territory at the time of the the outbreak of war.
As for the autonomous communities, the Valencian Community (42,739), Catalonia (36,641), Madrid (22,963) and Andalusia (22,939) are the ones that have elaborated and granted the most temporary protections.
On the opposite side are La Rioja, with 575; Extremadura (733) and Cantabria (1,469), together with the autonomous cities of Ceuta (15) and Melilla (18).
The mechanism activated by the Asylum and Refuge Office (OAR) of the Ministry of the Interior allows temporary protection to be granted quickly and easily within a maximum period of 24 hours from the request. The procedure begins in State Police stations throughout the country and in authorized reception centers, where State Police officers, supported by interpreters, are in charge of collecting the identification data of Ukrainian citizens. This request is subsequently processed by the OAR of the Ministry of the Interior and approved within a maximum period of 24 hours.
All the temporary protections dealt with involve a residence permit and, for adults, a work permit. Furthermore, by virtue of the provisions of the General Directorate of Traffic, displaced persons who obtain temporary protection can legally use their driving license in Spain for at least one year.
