Spain: Power outages put children’s lives at risk in informal settlement – UN experts
GENEVA (22 December 2020) – A two-month power outage in a vast informal settlement near Madrid is endangering the health of some 1,800 children, UN human rights experts* said today, calling on the Government of Spain to immediately restore electricity as temperatures fall to freezing.
"Children in Cañada Real Galiana are truly suffering, and their health is at risk," the experts warned. "Now that winter is closing in – and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic – electricity must be restored."
The latest power outage started on 2 October and has affected at least 4,500 people, particularly in Sectors 5 and 6 of Cañada Real Galiana. The settlement is home to some 8,000 people who live in a 16km-long, 75m-wide strip established more than 40 years ago. Many residents are migrants or Roma.