Despite numerous appeals from citizens, associations, public figures, and local politicians, the situation remains unchanged at the Italian border.
No reception centers are planned, and the authorities continue to violate international refugee rights, particularly for minors and families.
The lack of organized solutions by the state, with the support of local communities, encourages all kinds of abuses, such as racketeering networks targeting exiles.
Faced with “the blindness of the French authorities who allow the situation at the border to deteriorate,” EELV06 proposes to bring the matter before the Council of State, in consultation with the associations, regarding the failings of the state and local authorities in the Alpes-Maritimes, as was already done in Calais.
The most effective solution seems twofold to us — say Mari-Lus Nicaise and Laurent Lanquar-Castiel, departmental spokespersons for the ecological party.
- Firstly, create a humanitarian structure for public health and advisory services that will ensure the refugees’ good health condition and inform them of their rights and the procedures to follow. This structure could be managed by humanitarian associations.
Secondly, avoid large concentrations of refugees in one or more centers by organizing a “diffuse reception” through solidarity networks. France has an underestimated and undervalued reception capacity, especially in rural areas: each municipality could easily host one or two families for a while.
This local proximity solution proves effective, notably in terms of integration. Residents of municipalities that have accepted this diffuse reception have regretted the departure of the refugees they hosted.
