France These Afghan minors crossing Europe

January 12, 2009

Comment: The article reports on the stories of Afghan children moving to Northern Europe through Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy and France. Based on the French context, the consequences of the closing of ‘Sangatte’ transit shelter for illegal migrants (North West of France) since 2002 is the first element given by the journalist to explain the difficult situation of migrants waiting for entering into the UK.

The main information is already well known by the migration specialists: the increasing number of minors trying to migrate throughout Europe. Only in France, the newspaper indicates an estimation between 4’000 to 6’000 ‘foreign isolated minors’. During the first 9 months of 2008, approximately 2’300 children have been identified by the border police, 36% of them being younger than 16 years old. Today, one of the main French NGO providing services to this vulnerable population indicates that the average age of the young migrants went down recently to the age of 15.

The journalist gives voice to the young boys, expressing their wish for a better future in a new country, talking about work and school and describing the difficult situation of their families in Afghanistan, a country at war. Unfortunately, the article describes the appalling situation of these migrant children wandering in Paris in winter, but the journalist mention only the border police and the NGO ‘“France Terre d’asile":http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.france-terre-asile.org/&lp=fr&tl=en&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8’ for the actions taken to detect and protect these young migrants. The full responsibility of the French State to take in charge these minors – with the same rights as national children according to the UN CRC – is only implicit.

The national media in Western Europe have been reporting more and more about the same kind of stories, and usually with tragic endings (see another recent article here) or relaying the alarming information released by the NGOs and the inter-governmental bodies. The responsibilities of the EU member states are rarely pointed out, while the worst scenarios for these migrant children are often disclosed with full details showing the highest risks for their life due to obvious factors of discrimination and absence of adapted care.

For a better understanding of the key issues on migrant children, read ‘Kids Abroad: ignore them, abuse them or protect them?’. This recent study criticises the way that children travelling alone are treated in some countries, but focuses primarily on what can be done within the limitations of the law to assist such children and enable them to exercise their human rights.