An investigation undertaken by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has concluded that France is committing “grave and systematic violations” of the rights of unaccompanied migrant children. In particular, it notes that flawed age assessment procedures are resulting in children being left homeless on the streets where they are exposed to violence and abuse, and that the detention of unaccompanied minors at Paris Charles de Gaulle is “disproportionate and therefore arbitrary.” […]
France
FRANCE: New Immigration Law Ends Detention of Children but Eases Deportation
A controversial new immigration law has come into force in France that prohibits detention of children while at the same time limiting access to social assistance for migrants and facilitating removal procedures. […]
Europe: The Spectre of Detention Looms across the Continent as Immigration Pressures Grow
So far this year, 233,500 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe’s Mediterranean region, compared to 159,410 during the whole of 2022. Several EU states–including the EU’s three largest economies, Germany, France, and Italy–have focused on intensifying detention measures as a tool for responding to these growing challenges, raising concerns about the region’s faltering commitment […]
France: Covid-19 and Detention
In early June, France’s independent detention monitoring agency, the Contrôleur Général des lieux de Privation de Liberté (CGPL), released a report on its work, which heavily criticised operations at the country’s immigration detention centres (centres de rétention administrative or CRA), including highlighting critical problems with respect to COVID-19 measures. The CGPL report found that the […]
France: Covid-19 and Detention
On 26 April 2021, the National Association for Assistance at Borders for Non-Citizens (Association Nationale d’Assistance aux Frontières pour les Étrangers or ANAFE) announced that it was temporarily stopping its operations at the Zone d’Attente pour Personnes en Instance (ZAPI) of Roissy airport, a transit zone where non-citizens without authorisation to enter France are held […]
Immigration Detention in the European Union
This book offers a unique comparative assessment of the evolution of immigration detention systems in European Union member states since the onset of the “refugee crisis.” By applying an analytical framework premised on international human rights law in assessing domestic detention regimes, the book reveals the extent to which EU legislation has led to the adoption of laws and practices that may disregard fundamental rights and standards. […]
France: Covid-19 and Detention
In November, several organisations that are part of the Association Nationale d’Assistance aux Frontières pour les Étrangers (Anafé) petitioned the administrative courts of Nice and Marseille to rule on the right of access of associations to places of deprivation of liberty of the border police (‘Police Aux Frontières’ or ‘PAF’) at Menton pont Saint-Louis and […]
France Immigration Detention Data Profile (2020)
France Detention Data (2020) The latest detention-related data from France, including immigration and detention-related statistics, domestic laws and policies, international law, and institutional indicators. View the France Detention Data Profile Related Reading: France: Country Page France: COVID-19 Updates Immigration Detention in France: Longer, More Widespread, and Harder to Contest […]
France: Covid-19 and Detention
Shortly after the onset of the pandemic, France temporarily closed several immigration detention centres (centres de rétention administrative or CRA) (see 16 July and 12 May France updates on this platform). However, the Conseil d’Etat rejected a request to completely shutter CRA’s on 27 March 2020 (see 6 April France update on this platform). Some […]
France: Covid-19 and Detention
In its response to the GDP’s Covid-19 survey, La Cimade, a French human rights NGO that operates inside many of the country’s immigration detention centres (Centres de Rétention Administrative or CRAs), confirmed previous reports that the country had not implemented a detention moratorium since the onset of the pandemic. The organisation explained, however, that in […]
