France

How Hollande broke election promise over child detentions

Despite his much-vaunted election promises, President François Hollande’s commitment to end the detention of child refugees and migrants has failed to materialise. In mainland France, 460 minors were detained between 2012-2016 and in the overseas département of Mayotte, in the Indian Ocean, some 20,000 were locked up. The Léonarda scandal – when a Kosovan child on a school trip in France was arrested pending deportation – is just one example of the hardships faced by immigrant minors under the current presidency. Carine Fouteau reports.

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Expulsions to war-torn Sudan with its endemic repression; refugees forced to sleep on the streets of Paris in breach of of both French and international laws; hundreds of asylum-seekers making claims under the Dublin convention dispersed to other European countries and plunged into a Kafka-esque nightmare of bureaucracy; activists arrested for helping refugees; a baby in hospital after having spent thirteen days in a holding area – these are examples of the direct effects of migration policies on the lives of  refugees during the presidency of François Hollande.

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Since January 7, 2023 our colleague and friend Mortaza Behboudi has been imprisoned in Afghanistan, in the Taliban prisons.

We do not forget him and call for his release.

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#FREEMORTAZA

Since January 7, 2023 our colleague and friend Mortaza Behboudi has been imprisoned in Afghanistan, in the Taliban prisons.

We do not forget him and call for his release.

Learn more about #FREEMORTAZA