La ley en Francia prohíbe la detención de niños, niñas y adolescentes no acompañados, pero permite que los niños que viajan con sus familias sean detenidos y deportados. En la práctica, más de 4,000 niños fueron detenidos en territorio francés en 2016, incluidos niños no acompañados detenidos con adultos no emparentados.
Francia
43Scorecard
| Tratados internacionales | 18 / 20 |
| Legislación Nacional | 7 / 10 |
| Identificación y Atención | 8 / 26 |
| Colocación | 4 / 12 |
| Derechos | 12 / 20 |
| Supervisión | 5 / 12 |
| SUB TOTAL | 54 / 115 |
| Puntos de penalización | -14 / -15 |
| Puntos de bonificación | 3 / +15 |
Details
Tratados internacionales 18/20
France has ratified five of the six Conventions and Protocols that assist in the protection of children in the context of migration.
Recomendación:
The Government of France is encouraged to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
Legislación Nacional 7/10
Article L511-4 1° of the French Code de l’entrée du séjour et du droit d’asile establishes that deportation can only be applied to people who are older than 18 years old. As immigration detention is only permitted during deportation proceedings, this excludes unaccompanied minors from detention. However, this law is not always respected in practice (particularly in the department of Mayotte).
Recomendación:
The Government of France is commended for having a law which protects all children from detention on arrival, and protects unaccompanied children from detention and during deportation. The government is encouraged to urgently introduce legislation to protect all children, and their families, from being held in immigration detention while preparing for departure from the country.
Identificación y Atención 8/26
France has weak processes for integrating migrant children into the community. Specifically, there is very limited practice of child-sensitive screening, best interest determination, case management, issue documentation or ensuring access to legal advice during migration processes. Guardianship is provided by specialist organisations in many regions, but some regions refuse to provide this to undocumented children. Some translation services are available.
Recomendación:
The Government of France is encouraged to urgently introduce and strengthen processes to ensure child-sensitive migration systems. The government is strongly encouraged to undertake the substantial effort required to ensure screening, best interest determinations, case management, documentation and legal advice are of an acceptable international standard.
Colocación 4/12
Placement options in France are limited. While unaccompanied children cannot be detained, there are not enough spaces in shelters for their care. All of the placement options for families are conditional, placing restrictions or conditions on a person’s liberties which are automatically and arbitrarily imposed without established reasoning or evidence that they are required in the individual case.
Recomendación:
The Government of France is encouraged to expand placement options, as well as ensure conditions such as reporting are only applied when shown to be necessary in specific cases.
Derechos 12/20
Access to rights is variable across France. Access to education is established in law and respected in the majority of cases. Access to housing is limited, with reports of families and unaccompanied children sleeping on the street. Access to social assistance is limited for non-citizens, while irregular migrants can only access part of welfare. Health care is available with certain conditions, including a 3-month waiting period.
Recomendación:
The Government of France is commended for upholding the rights of migrant children to non-discriminatory access to education. However, the government is encouraged to provide appropriate services to address the specific needs of migrant children and their families. It is recommended the government ensure indiscriminate access to housing, social assistance and health care for all children, as well as permit parents to seek employment. Further, the government is encouraged to strengthen de-facto firewall protections into legislation to ensure social services are not impeded by migration control activities.
Supervisión 5/12
The oversight of immigration detention in France could be improved. Judges do not review detention decisions for 72 hours and have limited powers to review detention decisions. While monitoring is undertaken by an independent authority, its powers are limited and authorities are not required to comply with recommendations. Immigration detention statistics are published each year but the French Government. However, they are considered inaccurate and do not report specifically on children.
Recomendación:
The Government of France is encouraged to improve its score by solidifying judicial control of detention decisions, boosting the powers of the detention monitoring bodies, and by publishing disaggregated detention population statistics on a monthly basis that provide an accurate overview of all territories in which immigration detention takes place.
Puntos de penalización -14/-15
According to NGO reports, it is estimated that 4,000 children were detained in 2016, for an average of 10 days. The vast majority of these are detained in the overseas Department of France, Mayotte, where the 6 July 2012 circular (which implemented the decision of placing families in a residence facilities rather than being kept in immigration detention centres) does not apply. France both transfers and returns children to territories where they are at risk of detention. In addition, children are regularly detained with unrelated adults.
Recomendación:
The Government of France is strongly encouraged to abolish the detention of children. The government is encouraged to take steps to reduce the number of children who are detained, to reduce the time children spend in detention, to end transfer and return practices, and to ensure children are not detained with unrelated adults.
Puntos de bonificación 3/15
French law protects unaccompanied minors from detention; however, there is no evidence of any political will to end the immigration detention of all children and their parents. Although, some rights are embedded in law, and some exploration of pilots is in emerging.
Recomendación:
The Government of France is encouraged to abide by international law and standards by preventing the detention of all children, removing reservations to the CRC, and expanding its exploration of alternatives through pilot projects.
This scorecard has been assessed by the France NextGen Index Committee:
- La Cimade