“This call to solidarity also joins the demands of associations that consider untenable the pressure on the capital even as migration flows intensify from Italy with the sunny days. “(Le Point, 1 July 2016)
http://www.lepoint.fr/societe/accueil-des-migrants-a-paris-l-etat-va-s-engager-aux-cotes-de-la-ville-cosse-al-afp-01- 07-2016-2051231_23.php # XT ™ = pod-cazeneuve-paris-refugees & xtnp = 1 & xtcr = 7
Paris, early summer, the state announced that it would engage in the project announced by the city of Paris to create one or several refugee camps in the city. The rules of the game were announced: a home for a few days, 5 to 10, and then dispersal to the reception centers to be created throughout France, because in Paris, the “pressure” is “untenable”.
Paris, 2 million people, in the heart of a region that has 10 million people, a sixth of the French population. Where in terms of resources, we can find interpretation, specialized legal support, associations specialized in assisting the victims of torture, who are not necessarily present throughout the rest of the territory and which can facilitate the reception and the integration of Exiles.
As an illustration of the situation in the rest of the territory, we summarize below the text from a petition currently circulating in Nantes. Because it presents the situation very clearly and also by chance because it is running now, the same observations could be made in Metz, Montpellier and Rennes.
What is here called “solidarity” is the dispersal throughout the country, including in or near Nantes,of people considered undesirable in Paris because their “pressure” is “untenable,” leaving intact the policy of inhospitality: people who are on the streets in Nantes will remain, there is no question of opening shelters for them.
Similarly, some of the Exiles in Paris will be dispersed to centres, but others living in Paris and living in the street will remain in the street with an improbable access to an overwhelmed emergency shelter . In so doing , the authorities have emptied a little more any content of the principle of the universal right to access emergency shelter, Since some people, because foreigners, now come under different schemes, outside common law and discretional.
Schemes which are also sorting schemes, since their only outlet is the asylum application, and requires the removal (deportation from the territory) of others, in an unwelcoming country, where the rate of positive responses to asylum applications is half the European average. In a context where the policies pursued at the European level are generalising readmission agreements with countries at war and with dictatorships, and where the implementation of European Laisser Passez will make deportations quicker and easier. Italy just proved that it could now deport to Sudan in less time than is necessary to bring in a judge and check the legality of the deportation.
What is interesting is that these are associations that sell the necessity and the solidarity aspect of this policy. Statements made in early July about Paris announced those of last Tuesday concerning Calais. Perhaps a sign of a changing of the centre of gravity of the associations, of citizens volunteers group responding to calls for tender by public authorities, a new neo liberal kind of democracy . Since associations that promote this politics are also the operators – or in the more confusing case of Calais, those aspiring to become and trying to be at least co-operators.
Here is the call that is currently circulating in Nantes as a petition:
“CALL to Madame the President of Nantes Métropole
In Nantes, hundreds of migrants are living in the streets or squats in conditions of poor housing, unworthy and unacceptable for human beings.
Some are asylum seekers, others have been granted refugee status, and others have been rejected. There are also economic migrants and unaccompanied minors, unsupported and not attending school. They are men or women, most of whom are young and single, but sometimes entire families.
But all are human beings forced to leave their country. We can not accept that they do not have a place to live with dignity simply because they are not born in France. That is why we believe we should increase the current overall offer for all the homeless.
Associations, collectives and citizens mobilized, signatories of this appeal today to bring to migrants, incomplete and insufficient emergency assistance. They refuse that these people live on the streets without ACCOMMODATION solutions or in squats whose only outcome is eviction. They ask that the government take responsibility. In Europe, Mayors are mobilizing across their cities to develop accommodation adapted to the situation of migrants, regardless of status, which allow them to obtain sustainable solutions while integrating their specific needs and access to their rights.
Regarding our city, the signatories agree to support the process initiated by migrant of the squats Doulon and Chantenay which established a list of necessary requirements, with the aim of creating one or more accommodation and reception centres . The signatories address the President of Nantes to create the conditions for a genuine welcome at the same time human and worthy reflecting the values carried by the city. This involves the provision of premises, the means of operation and their finance.
The signatories wish that a wide consultation be conducted urgently to quickly offer a dignified accomodation solution, reception and accompaniment for all migrants. They form a multi-partnerial working group which will join their forces and expertise with those of institutions for the realisation of this project and they seek from you a meeting. “