France Wandering children in Marseilles, prosecuting by justice

January 1, 2004

Comment: The French daily newspaper “Le Monde” reports the common story of a wandering 17 years-old teenager called Samir in the streets of Marseilles, France. He fled his native country Algeria to Italy and then escaped a child detention center to Marseilles, where he has been wandering in the streets for a couple of weeks. Recently he has been arrested for an identification control and underwent a X-ray radiography that showed that he was older than 18 years old.

Jeunes Errants, an organisation that helps struggling foreign minors in Marseilles, helped Samir and called for a legal assistance.

Protected by the International Convention on Child Rights, those lonely minors can’t be expelled. In France, article 375 in the civil code prevents children from being unprotected. This article provides the child with legal assistance and social care. However, since October 2007, every lonely foreign minors has been prosecuted for infraction to the legislation related to foreigners and has been put into custody and asked for a X-ray radiography. If this exam shows that the young appears to be major, the latest could expect to leave the French territory without any warning.

Le Monde full text
"":http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2008/05/13/a-marseille-l-errance-des-mineurs-etrangers-isoles-poursuivis-par-la-justice_1044268_3224.html