The Ukrainian ombudsman’s office has received complaints from children who were sent to a summer camp in Spain organised by Ukrainians, Ukrainian media reported.
Conditions at the camp were “unbearable” and the owner threatens to “throw out” all those who are dissatisfied, the Ukrainian parliamentary commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets said.
The representative of the Ukrainian Ombudsman in Spain received complaints about the STAR TIME children’s camp in the municipality of Órgiva, Granada province. During the monitoring visit, it was found out that children were housed in premises in violation of sanitary norms, without access to toilets, drinking water, food and hygiene products.
In addition, 46 children were housed in polythene tents that were impossible to stay in due to the heat. Therefore, the children became ill, Lubinets said. Parents paid about 2 thousand euros per child for the holiday in this camp.
“The camp is more like a construction site”
Representative of the Ombudsman in Spain Lucia Zadorozhnaya said that “the camp is more like a construction site.” And, despite the negative feedback from parents and the lack of conditions, there are planned 8 visits for this summer.
The administration did not answer the calls of frightened parents in Ukraine for 24 hours. The owner of the camp promised to correct all the shortcomings, but the complaining children began to be pressured and threatened with eviction.
According to Lubinets, when local police arrived, the owner told the parents that he was no longer responsible for the children and they could take them away. The ombudsman wrote:
“He threatens to “throw” the children out of the camp and forcibly take all those who are dissatisfied to the airport.”
Lubinets asked the Foreign Ministry to instruct the embassy in Spain to take all necessary measures to protect the rights of children. In particular, to contact local authorities and law enforcement officers for proper response, so that children would be safe and such cases would not be repeated in the future.
The representative of the Ombudsman Zadorozhnaya said that the Consulate General of Barcelona did not react in time and ignored the complaints of children and parents. But Ukraine’s consul general Artem Vorobyev later replied that the issue of the camp was under the control of diplomatic institutions, and Ukraine’s consul in Malaga personally visited the institution on July 7. Zadorozhnaya said:
“The situation in the children’s camp is still critical, parents are sounding the alarm and systematically calling the police, ambulance. Every day there are new facts of violation of children’s rights.”
What organisers say
The owner of Star Time Camp Oleh Horoshiy (Lopatko) in a comment to the media said in an attempt by competitors to discredit his business and “force majeure” because of the unfinished new facility at the time of the arrival of children. According to him, “parents are exaggerating.” He also added:
“We recognise this and have come out to the parents, apologised and provided them with financial compensation. And the most important thing is that in the shortest possible time everything was resolved and corrected. We always take parents’ wishes into account and respond to them. After all, the main thing is that the children were happy with their holidays.”
Zadorozhnaya said that a protocol was drawn up on the camp that the premises do not meet sanitary standards for children’s stay. And the head of the camp agreed with this, putting his signature in the document.
In addition, the lack of conditions for children is not the only identified violation. According to Zadorozhnaya, the safety of children was not monitored on the territory of the camp – five of them left it unauthorisedly, found in Valencia. Also there are not enough counsellors, it was not possible to communicate with the medical officer and establish his qualifications, as well as to confirm the official arrangement of the camp workers and their qualifications.
