Nearly 200 young migrants, who claim to be minors, set up a camp made up of tents on Friday in front of the Council of State, in the heart of Paris, to demand their care and access to emergency accommodation, a found AFP.
These young people awaiting a court decision to decide on their age and accompanied by several associations including Utopia 56, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) or Doctors of the World, are among the 470 migrants who have been living for six months in a camp in Ivry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne).
Read alsoFinancial boost for the departments welcoming more unaccompanied foreign minors
They set up their tents in front of the high administrative court around 2:00 p.m., quickly surrounded by a police force. A symbolic action to make these young people visible, claim the associations. “We’re fed up, we shouldn’t leave these young people on the street. The state is complicit in the violence it denounces“, for example castigated Yann Manzi, co-founder of Utopia 56.
“Last night, it was too cold, they can’t take it anymore. There are serious health issues, (ranging) from scabies to post-traumatic stress“, abounded Kahina (she did not wish to give her name), a volunteer of the association. “I don’t feel safe in this camp and it’s getting colder and colder“said Seiku Kanté, French book in hand, six months after his arrival in France.
Appeal to the children’s judge
Like some of the young people present, from West Africa or Afghanistan, he has not been recognized as unaccompanied minors (MNA) at this stage. Many have filed appeals with a juvenile court judge, hoping to receive support from child welfare.
Read alsoThe Council of State confirms that the doctor can free himself from the last wishes of a patient
The associations that support them deplore the gray area in which these young migrants find themselves, neither minors nor adults, which complicates their care in emergency accommodation structures during the often long legal proceedings.
“The living conditions in the camp (in Ivry-sur-Seine) are not dignified. Nearly 470 young people have to share four toilets, six taps and only twelve showers“, also denounced Euphrasie Kalolwa, head of advocacy at MSF. On November 9, the Val-de-Marne prefecture received a delegation of elected officials and associations on the subject. A “health and social diagnosis“Is in progress before a possible shelter, had replied the prefecture.