While the Interior Ministers of the European Union (EU) countries were considering the possibility of reinstating systematic controls at the EU’s internal borders during a meeting in Luxembourg last Friday, our organizations urge the French authorities to comply with international, European, and French law by ceasing human rights violations against migrants and refugees at the border with Italy.
Individuals seeking protection are being turned back daily from French territory to Italy, without respect for the guarantees and procedures set out by European and national texts, particularly regarding the right to asylum. Unaccompanied children are being sent back to Italy, in violation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“Contrary to what Gérard Collomb claims, a person who presents at the borders of France has the right to seek asylum, regardless of their country of origin, including Italy. This right is enshrined in the French Constitution. Denying it amounts to a violation of France’s Constitution,” warns Corinne Torre, Head of Mission at Médecins Sans Frontières.
Initially limited to the Alpes-Maritimes, notably Menton, these practices are now spreading along the entire Franco-Italian border. As crossing the border at Menton becomes increasingly difficult, exiled individuals are forced to find another, more dangerous route through the Alps to reach France, and it is now the Briançon region that is affected.
“For over a year now, our teams have been treating increasingly severe injuries: sprains, strains, broken limbs… Nothing is spared for these people who take ever-greater risks to continue their journey, sometimes at the risk of their lives,” notes Yannick Le Bihan, Director of Operations France for Médecins du Monde.
“The same causes producing the same effects, we are struck by the glaring similarities between the violations committed against refugees and migrants at the border near Briançon and those we have been observing for many months near Menton and Nice,” says Camille Blanc, President of Amnesty International France.
by Amnesty International
