Protection of MENA upon reaching the age of majority: failure of Spain to comply with its international obligations and scope of the reform of the Immigration Regulations

Abstract

Nobody denies that the accompanied foreign minors who are in Spain have in the Spanish legal system a protection that originates in international law. However, the generalized conception is that once they reach the age of majority, this legal regime ceases to be applicable to them and this protection goes completely to nothing, from 100 to 0. In the present work we state that, in our opinion, this is an erroneous reading of the international and European regulations applicable in Spain. Minors who reach the age of majority continue to have a legal framework that comes from their minority age that protects and safeguards them and that the authorities must comply with. In this paper we analyze this international regulatory framework and how it is applied by Spanish legislation with a critical vision. We also expose the practice of the competent institutions for the protection of unaccompanied foreign minors in Spain. Until October 2021 neither one nor the other complied with Spain's international obligations. We studied this non–compliance and made a first approximation to the expected regulatory change that emerged in Spain with Decree 903/2021 of October 19, which takes decisive steps in the good line of Spain's compliance with its international obligations.