Unaccompanied minors arrive in France in very difficult conditions,
after long, dangerous and extremely trying journeys. The welcome they
receive here is obviously far from living up to their expectations.
Associations often provide them with initial support, which proves
essential. But it is their own ability to organize and mobilize that
allows them to build a balance of power and make their voices heard in
defense of their rights.
A welcome from the French authorities marked by defiance, violence,
and disregard for the law.
Throughout France, situations are multiplying where institutions, in
defiance of the law and with total impunity, are putting unaccompanied
minors (UMs) on the streets, without rights or resources, and who
survive in unacceptable conditions.
Before entering France, these young people are often turned back at the
borders [1], during irregular racial profiling checks, without taking
their minority into account. They can find themselves locked up in
waiting areas (ports and international airports) and/or detention
centers, - particularly in Guyana and Mayotte - , and even be given,
through illegal practices by the prefectures, false dates of birth which
make them pass for adults.
To be "sheltered" by the institutions, these young people must prove
their minority and isolation to the child welfare services (ASE), which
are dependent on the departments. However, during the first
"assessment," these services reject a significant number of
applications, considering these children to be adult migrants,
questioning their word and their identity documents. The methods used
are often intrusive and destabilizing: young people may undergo bone
tests (although these are considered unreliable), "social assessment"
interviews intended to determine whether the age declared by the young
person seems credible and which are in fact real interrogations.
Beyond the disparities in treatment from one department to another [2],
it is the logic of control and the suspicion of fraud which predominate,
rather than the presumption of minority.
Once the minority is denied, far from applying the International
Convention on the Rights of the Child, which should oblige the ASE to
provide accommodation and educational assistance to the adolescent for
the entire duration of the investigation of his or her appeal, it is the
street which awaits the young person.
Solidarity associations then invite him or her to file an appeal with
the juvenile judge which can take many months. Since this appeal does
not have suspensive effect, these young people, neither minors nor
adults = "mid-year-olds", find themselves excluded from any form of
protection and deprived of their fundamental rights: accommodation [3],
access to care, educational monitoring (see box) and the most vital
needs (food, clothing, hygiene, etc.).
If the judge rules in favor of the young people regarding their
minority, the ASE and the department are forced to take them back under
their protection. Otherwise, and without any room for doubt, they are
considered adults and therefore illegal migrants liable to deportation.
Certainly, the ASE, like all social services, is completely
under-resourced, but it is clear that the mistreatment of migrants,
young and adult, results from the political will of the State and the
departments.
The paths of resistance: that of solidarity associations...
In many large cities in France, we see tent camps or squats of young
people subjected to the violent cycle of police raids and evacuations.
These are carried out under the hypocritical pretext of respecting the
health and safety (why not the well-being...) of these young people
deliberately condemned to the streets by the authorities themselves.
They are accompanied by pseudo "shelters," temporary in any case, and
reasons for forced dispersal to other places and regions... before
returning to the streets: it is endless harassment as cruel as it is
ineffective.
In medium-sized and small towns, almost everywhere, there are solidarity
associations, neighborhood collectives, RESF networks (Education Without
Borders Networks) opposed to the government's repressive measures
regarding migration. For both humanitarian and political reasons, they
are usefully working to find accommodation and support for these young
people.
These associations fill the (deliberate) gaps in the state and
institutions. Very often, they are the ones who take the steps, organize
everything, and take charge of minors, at the risk of speaking and
acting in their place and not promoting their autonomy; this is
particularly the case in small towns or rural areas, where isolated
young people, who are fewer in number, find themselves accommodated by
families.
...and the tenacious, self-organized struggle of the miners themselves
In large cities where there are more young people seeking asylum,
unions, political parties and associations are also showing solidarity,
but they seem to do so with respect for the autonomy of action of young
people, the first people concerned.
Indeed, in recent years, they have been able to demonstrate their
capacity for collective action and self-organisation, which has given
them strong visibility and resonance. This is in fact the case of their
elders, undocumented workers, who have embarked on long-term strikes and
actions in certain companies to demand their regularisation [4]
Thus, after the evacuations of the camps and then the gymnasiums, minors
awaiting appeals, fed up with being rejected everywhere amidst almost
general indifference, organized themselves to make themselves visible.
Nearly 400 of them slept for weeks in September 2023 in the Parc de
Belleville (Paris 20th), then successively occupied the Maison de l'Air
de Belleville, the Académie du Climat (4th arrondissement), and the
Cent-Quatre (Paris 19th) last March. Through these direct actions, they
succeeded in putting pressure on the public authorities to obtain
shelter, albeit temporary, which affected around 900 young people. Then
they decided to exist as the Collectif des jeunes du Parc de Belleville,
bringing together 450 young people. They continued to organize
occupations of cultural sites belonging to the Paris City Hall: the
Maison des Métallos (Paris 11th), since the beginning of April 2024 and
for nearly three months, which they made "a house of struggle" (with the
support of neighbors, unions, other collectives). After their expulsion
from this place, it was the Gaîté lyrique (Paris 3rd) that they occupied
on December 10, 2024.
These occupations have the merit of "breaking the invisibility and
isolation" of young people seeking minority status, of creating a
balance of power to put pressure on institutions, of crystallizing
solidarity mobilizations, of making their demands loud and visible:
respect for the presumption of minority, reduction of the duration of
appeals, decent and lasting accommodation, schooling, an end to police
harassment and evictions without suitable rehousing, decent medical and
psychological coverage, access to culture and transport; in short, what
minors are entitled to.
Despite the difficult conditions, the building occupations are "active."
Not only are young people managing daily life collectively, making
decisions in general assemblies, and organizing legal hotlines for
access to health care and schools, but they are also increasing the
number of demonstrations, public meetings, and rallies in front of town
halls, the prefecture, and the education authority; all while building
bonds of solidarity with residents, unions, and associations.
All this is seriously annoying the authorities.
On March 18, the young people were evacuated from the Gaîté Lyrique, by
order of the prefect and with the complicity of the mayor of Paris, with
the deployment of CRS and mobile gendarmes who violently charged the
demonstrators and entered the building using tear gas and batons.
Several young migrants were injured. 65 arrests took place; 27 young
people arrested received an order to leave French territory - 7 of these
OQTF jumped "thanks to pressure" [5]
On March 21, an investigation into intentional police violence was opened.
Hidalgo, for her part, considered that this police evacuation operation
was "necessary" ... and she did not offer any accommodation solution. So
the street, again, for these young people, with the installation of
around ten camps on the banks of the Seine, which were evacuated in turn
on April 1.
The struggle continues and spreads
Without a collective space, the struggle continues with greater
difficulty due to the dispersion. Yet, young people declare: "We will
never give up or become discouraged. It is our future and our dreams
that are at stake."
By the fall of 2024, the struggling miners of the Parc de Belleville had
created a national coordination to give a more global dimension to their
commitments and link their struggles to other movements, including those
of undocumented workers. The struggles waged in the Paris region were
the most visible, and with strong media coverage; they inspired dynamics
elsewhere, and self-organized collectives of young exiles who arrived
alone in the country are multiplying to enforce their rights.
A first meeting of the national coordination of struggling miners'
collectives took place in September 2024, leading to the formation of
other collectives.
At the end of January 2025, eight collectives-Toulouse, Marseille,
Lille, Paris, Rouen, Rennes, Clermont Ferrand, and Tours-met for the
second time in Paris. Over three days, workshops and discussions allowed
them to exchange views on their struggle strategies and demands.
Other collectives were formed in Lyon, Saint-Etienne, and Besançon.
The third meeting took place in Lille, on May 3 and 4, 2025, at the call
of the Collective of Young People in Appeal of Bois Blancs and the
Collective of Inhabitants in Solidarity and Indignant of Bois Blancs,
both born in 2024 when around 70 young people in appeal to have their
minority recognized were surviving in tents in a camp set up by the
Utopia 56 association in a public neighborhood park.
The challenges of these meetings are the sharing of experiences (the
situations faced by unaccompanied minors vary significantly depending on
the city and department), collective organization, the coordination of
struggles to gain visibility and influence, and the strengthening of
solidarity.
The main demands are shared by all these groups: to have a roof over
one's head, to be regularized, to be educated, to be able to receive
medical care and to travel on public transport.
The aim is also to change the general public's perception of
unaccompanied minors, whom political leaders have labeled as
delinquents, as dangerous people, when they are actually in danger
because they live in extreme precariousness.
Furthermore, at both the local and national levels, each group strives
to create links with other solidarity-based trade union and political
organizations, to more forcefully attack the measures of a State and a
system that "authorize violence, sexism, and xenophobia."
Finally, the goal of the miners is to expand the coordination so that it
represents ever more cities, in order to unite forces, give a hexagonal
scope to local struggles, encourage them and allow the organization of
joint and simultaneous demonstrations. Not only to denounce, but also to
inform about the situation of unaccompanied minors in France and to find
solutions to their demands.
Kris-June 20
To write to the youth collective : deleguesmnalille at gmail.com
To follow the struggles of the unaccompanied minors' collectives in
France on social media:
Lille @mna_des_bois_blancs
Paris @belleville.mobilization
Rouen @collectif-de-rouen
Tours @collectif_jeunes_tours
Clermont-Ferrand @collectif.mna63
Toulouse, Rennes, Marseille, Besançon
Right to education?
Schooling is fundamental to the lives of isolated young people. It is
often one of the main reasons that led them to leave their country to
join Europe. Their educational path will also largely determine their
access to residency, once they come of age.
Young people under 18 have the unconditional right to education and
training. In France, school is compulsory until the age of 16, and the
right to education is legitimate until the age of majority since the law
"for a school of trust" of July 26, 2019.
However, thousands of unaccompanied minors seeking legal redress are
deprived of schooling. And when they do access it, the classes are not
always adapted to their needs as non-native speakers; and they are
almost systematically directed towards vocational training.
Most of the time, it takes the mobilization of solidarity associations
with rectorates to obtain registrations in high schools, and to denounce
the abusive demand for administrative documents.
Notes
[1] 1France, among other European countries, has re-established controls
at its borders since 2015. In this context, these have become the scene
of human rights violations, including against unaccompanied children.
[2] The government has created, via the services of the prefectures, a
national biometric file of all young migrants requesting protection,
called Support for the Assessment of Minority (AEM). Thus, a young
person who is not recognized as a minor in one department will no longer
be able to submit a new application in another.
[3] The 115 emergency accommodation number only accepts adults
[4] Self-organization and mobilizations for more than a year of
temporary RSI workers in the construction industry, with a strike
(started in 2021) and a picket in front of the group in Gennevilliers;
strike by delivery workers at the Frichti company; picket lines at
Chronopost in Alfortville from December 2021 to November 2024; strikes
by employees in the hotel industry, on the Olympic Games construction
sites and in Greater Paris; at Emmaüs; strike by Uber and Deliveroo
delivery workers in Poitiers; squatters in many cities; movement of
undocumented students; struggle of retired workers from Adoma shelters -
formerly Sonacotra shelters - and their self-organization (collectives
of undocumented workers and coordination...
[5] On May 27, a meeting at the Paris Labour Exchange brought together
several hundred people, at the call of various groups, including that of
the young people of Belleville Park, to demand in particular the
cancellation of the OQTF targeting around twenty minors.
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4490
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
after long, dangerous and extremely trying journeys. The welcome they
receive here is obviously far from living up to their expectations.
Associations often provide them with initial support, which proves
essential. But it is their own ability to organize and mobilize that
allows them to build a balance of power and make their voices heard in
defense of their rights.
A welcome from the French authorities marked by defiance, violence,
and disregard for the law.
Throughout France, situations are multiplying where institutions, in
defiance of the law and with total impunity, are putting unaccompanied
minors (UMs) on the streets, without rights or resources, and who
survive in unacceptable conditions.
Before entering France, these young people are often turned back at the
borders [1], during irregular racial profiling checks, without taking
their minority into account. They can find themselves locked up in
waiting areas (ports and international airports) and/or detention
centers, - particularly in Guyana and Mayotte - , and even be given,
through illegal practices by the prefectures, false dates of birth which
make them pass for adults.
To be "sheltered" by the institutions, these young people must prove
their minority and isolation to the child welfare services (ASE), which
are dependent on the departments. However, during the first
"assessment," these services reject a significant number of
applications, considering these children to be adult migrants,
questioning their word and their identity documents. The methods used
are often intrusive and destabilizing: young people may undergo bone
tests (although these are considered unreliable), "social assessment"
interviews intended to determine whether the age declared by the young
person seems credible and which are in fact real interrogations.
Beyond the disparities in treatment from one department to another [2],
it is the logic of control and the suspicion of fraud which predominate,
rather than the presumption of minority.
Once the minority is denied, far from applying the International
Convention on the Rights of the Child, which should oblige the ASE to
provide accommodation and educational assistance to the adolescent for
the entire duration of the investigation of his or her appeal, it is the
street which awaits the young person.
Solidarity associations then invite him or her to file an appeal with
the juvenile judge which can take many months. Since this appeal does
not have suspensive effect, these young people, neither minors nor
adults = "mid-year-olds", find themselves excluded from any form of
protection and deprived of their fundamental rights: accommodation [3],
access to care, educational monitoring (see box) and the most vital
needs (food, clothing, hygiene, etc.).
If the judge rules in favor of the young people regarding their
minority, the ASE and the department are forced to take them back under
their protection. Otherwise, and without any room for doubt, they are
considered adults and therefore illegal migrants liable to deportation.
Certainly, the ASE, like all social services, is completely
under-resourced, but it is clear that the mistreatment of migrants,
young and adult, results from the political will of the State and the
departments.
The paths of resistance: that of solidarity associations...
In many large cities in France, we see tent camps or squats of young
people subjected to the violent cycle of police raids and evacuations.
These are carried out under the hypocritical pretext of respecting the
health and safety (why not the well-being...) of these young people
deliberately condemned to the streets by the authorities themselves.
They are accompanied by pseudo "shelters," temporary in any case, and
reasons for forced dispersal to other places and regions... before
returning to the streets: it is endless harassment as cruel as it is
ineffective.
In medium-sized and small towns, almost everywhere, there are solidarity
associations, neighborhood collectives, RESF networks (Education Without
Borders Networks) opposed to the government's repressive measures
regarding migration. For both humanitarian and political reasons, they
are usefully working to find accommodation and support for these young
people.
These associations fill the (deliberate) gaps in the state and
institutions. Very often, they are the ones who take the steps, organize
everything, and take charge of minors, at the risk of speaking and
acting in their place and not promoting their autonomy; this is
particularly the case in small towns or rural areas, where isolated
young people, who are fewer in number, find themselves accommodated by
families.
...and the tenacious, self-organized struggle of the miners themselves
In large cities where there are more young people seeking asylum,
unions, political parties and associations are also showing solidarity,
but they seem to do so with respect for the autonomy of action of young
people, the first people concerned.
Indeed, in recent years, they have been able to demonstrate their
capacity for collective action and self-organisation, which has given
them strong visibility and resonance. This is in fact the case of their
elders, undocumented workers, who have embarked on long-term strikes and
actions in certain companies to demand their regularisation [4]
Thus, after the evacuations of the camps and then the gymnasiums, minors
awaiting appeals, fed up with being rejected everywhere amidst almost
general indifference, organized themselves to make themselves visible.
Nearly 400 of them slept for weeks in September 2023 in the Parc de
Belleville (Paris 20th), then successively occupied the Maison de l'Air
de Belleville, the Académie du Climat (4th arrondissement), and the
Cent-Quatre (Paris 19th) last March. Through these direct actions, they
succeeded in putting pressure on the public authorities to obtain
shelter, albeit temporary, which affected around 900 young people. Then
they decided to exist as the Collectif des jeunes du Parc de Belleville,
bringing together 450 young people. They continued to organize
occupations of cultural sites belonging to the Paris City Hall: the
Maison des Métallos (Paris 11th), since the beginning of April 2024 and
for nearly three months, which they made "a house of struggle" (with the
support of neighbors, unions, other collectives). After their expulsion
from this place, it was the Gaîté lyrique (Paris 3rd) that they occupied
on December 10, 2024.
These occupations have the merit of "breaking the invisibility and
isolation" of young people seeking minority status, of creating a
balance of power to put pressure on institutions, of crystallizing
solidarity mobilizations, of making their demands loud and visible:
respect for the presumption of minority, reduction of the duration of
appeals, decent and lasting accommodation, schooling, an end to police
harassment and evictions without suitable rehousing, decent medical and
psychological coverage, access to culture and transport; in short, what
minors are entitled to.
Despite the difficult conditions, the building occupations are "active."
Not only are young people managing daily life collectively, making
decisions in general assemblies, and organizing legal hotlines for
access to health care and schools, but they are also increasing the
number of demonstrations, public meetings, and rallies in front of town
halls, the prefecture, and the education authority; all while building
bonds of solidarity with residents, unions, and associations.
All this is seriously annoying the authorities.
On March 18, the young people were evacuated from the Gaîté Lyrique, by
order of the prefect and with the complicity of the mayor of Paris, with
the deployment of CRS and mobile gendarmes who violently charged the
demonstrators and entered the building using tear gas and batons.
Several young migrants were injured. 65 arrests took place; 27 young
people arrested received an order to leave French territory - 7 of these
OQTF jumped "thanks to pressure" [5]
On March 21, an investigation into intentional police violence was opened.
Hidalgo, for her part, considered that this police evacuation operation
was "necessary" ... and she did not offer any accommodation solution. So
the street, again, for these young people, with the installation of
around ten camps on the banks of the Seine, which were evacuated in turn
on April 1.
The struggle continues and spreads
Without a collective space, the struggle continues with greater
difficulty due to the dispersion. Yet, young people declare: "We will
never give up or become discouraged. It is our future and our dreams
that are at stake."
By the fall of 2024, the struggling miners of the Parc de Belleville had
created a national coordination to give a more global dimension to their
commitments and link their struggles to other movements, including those
of undocumented workers. The struggles waged in the Paris region were
the most visible, and with strong media coverage; they inspired dynamics
elsewhere, and self-organized collectives of young exiles who arrived
alone in the country are multiplying to enforce their rights.
A first meeting of the national coordination of struggling miners'
collectives took place in September 2024, leading to the formation of
other collectives.
At the end of January 2025, eight collectives-Toulouse, Marseille,
Lille, Paris, Rouen, Rennes, Clermont Ferrand, and Tours-met for the
second time in Paris. Over three days, workshops and discussions allowed
them to exchange views on their struggle strategies and demands.
Other collectives were formed in Lyon, Saint-Etienne, and Besançon.
The third meeting took place in Lille, on May 3 and 4, 2025, at the call
of the Collective of Young People in Appeal of Bois Blancs and the
Collective of Inhabitants in Solidarity and Indignant of Bois Blancs,
both born in 2024 when around 70 young people in appeal to have their
minority recognized were surviving in tents in a camp set up by the
Utopia 56 association in a public neighborhood park.
The challenges of these meetings are the sharing of experiences (the
situations faced by unaccompanied minors vary significantly depending on
the city and department), collective organization, the coordination of
struggles to gain visibility and influence, and the strengthening of
solidarity.
The main demands are shared by all these groups: to have a roof over
one's head, to be regularized, to be educated, to be able to receive
medical care and to travel on public transport.
The aim is also to change the general public's perception of
unaccompanied minors, whom political leaders have labeled as
delinquents, as dangerous people, when they are actually in danger
because they live in extreme precariousness.
Furthermore, at both the local and national levels, each group strives
to create links with other solidarity-based trade union and political
organizations, to more forcefully attack the measures of a State and a
system that "authorize violence, sexism, and xenophobia."
Finally, the goal of the miners is to expand the coordination so that it
represents ever more cities, in order to unite forces, give a hexagonal
scope to local struggles, encourage them and allow the organization of
joint and simultaneous demonstrations. Not only to denounce, but also to
inform about the situation of unaccompanied minors in France and to find
solutions to their demands.
Kris-June 20
To write to the youth collective : deleguesmnalille at gmail.com
To follow the struggles of the unaccompanied minors' collectives in
France on social media:
Lille @mna_des_bois_blancs
Paris @belleville.mobilization
Rouen @collectif-de-rouen
Tours @collectif_jeunes_tours
Clermont-Ferrand @collectif.mna63
Toulouse, Rennes, Marseille, Besançon
Right to education?
Schooling is fundamental to the lives of isolated young people. It is
often one of the main reasons that led them to leave their country to
join Europe. Their educational path will also largely determine their
access to residency, once they come of age.
Young people under 18 have the unconditional right to education and
training. In France, school is compulsory until the age of 16, and the
right to education is legitimate until the age of majority since the law
"for a school of trust" of July 26, 2019.
However, thousands of unaccompanied minors seeking legal redress are
deprived of schooling. And when they do access it, the classes are not
always adapted to their needs as non-native speakers; and they are
almost systematically directed towards vocational training.
Most of the time, it takes the mobilization of solidarity associations
with rectorates to obtain registrations in high schools, and to denounce
the abusive demand for administrative documents.
Notes
[1] 1France, among other European countries, has re-established controls
at its borders since 2015. In this context, these have become the scene
of human rights violations, including against unaccompanied children.
[2] The government has created, via the services of the prefectures, a
national biometric file of all young migrants requesting protection,
called Support for the Assessment of Minority (AEM). Thus, a young
person who is not recognized as a minor in one department will no longer
be able to submit a new application in another.
[3] The 115 emergency accommodation number only accepts adults
[4] Self-organization and mobilizations for more than a year of
temporary RSI workers in the construction industry, with a strike
(started in 2021) and a picket in front of the group in Gennevilliers;
strike by delivery workers at the Frichti company; picket lines at
Chronopost in Alfortville from December 2021 to November 2024; strikes
by employees in the hotel industry, on the Olympic Games construction
sites and in Greater Paris; at Emmaüs; strike by Uber and Deliveroo
delivery workers in Poitiers; squatters in many cities; movement of
undocumented students; struggle of retired workers from Adoma shelters -
formerly Sonacotra shelters - and their self-organization (collectives
of undocumented workers and coordination...
[5] On May 27, a meeting at the Paris Labour Exchange brought together
several hundred people, at the call of various groups, including that of
the young people of Belleville Park, to demand in particular the
cancellation of the OQTF targeting around twenty minors.
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4490
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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