France Immigration: an association denounces the "inhumanity" of the waiting zone of Roissy

May 10, 2009

Comment: At the very moment that the highest authorities in the UK are seriously worried about what is happening in the ‘children home’ of Heathrow airport (see the news here), the French national association for the assistance of foreigners at the borders (Anafe) denounces inhumane conditions in the waiting zone of Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

The daily newspaper ‘Liberation’ quotes AFP reporting how foreign unaccompanied minors are treated in the French international airport up to the end of 2008. The ‘Anafe’ describes how minors over the age of 13 are placed together with adults, as a clear violation of the UNCRC, and how minors under 13 are placed in a hotel “in opaque conditions”. The report mentions the breaches of appointing a ad hoc guardian for the minor, indicating that 59 minors did not benefit from any guardian only in 2008.

The daily newspaper describes how the rights of the foreign unaccompanied minors are not respected, in contradiction with the French law. ‘Anafe’ denounces hidden forms of forced repatriation of minors, without any measures to protect the child and to prevent him/her to fall into the hands of organised criminal networks.

Once again, the issues related to the protection of foreign unaccompanied minors in old EU member States are clearly raised in the medias. The responsibility of the French State is obviously defined as well as the facts which are in contradiction with the national law and the international conventions.

What is happening today in the UK could happen in France. It could happen in any country where the will to tackle adequately child migration issues is lacking and poisoned by the highly sensitive migration topics. The unacceptable behavior of the French authorities is unfortunately not rare, as a recent study described how in several European countries migrant minors are suffering from lack of protection and sometimes forced to return (see “Wandering young people: the conditions for return”).

Foreign minors have exactly the same rights than national minors. To forget their rights is forgetting our duty and obligation to protect them. The result of such unacceptable omission is putting this particularly vulnerable population into high risks of exploitation or trafficking. All studies and operational programs are showing for years that young migrants are the perfect preys for the traffickers in human beings.

Read the original article (in French) here

Read also the reaction of the French minister Besson, on May 12, via google news and AFP: Besson veut un administrateur ad hoc pour chaque mineur isolÊ en zone d’attente.
"":http://www.liberation.fr/societe/0101566384-immigration-une-association-denonce-l-inhumanite-de-la-zone-d-attente-de-roissy