topics
tools
Expatica countries
Index Last Var.(%)
BEL 20 2117.66 -0.08
DAX 6323.19 -0.26
IBEX 30 6399.1 -2.20
CAC 40 3042.97 -0.16
FTSE 100 5356.34 0.09
AEX 292.76 0.00
DJIA 12454.83 -0.60
Nasdaq 2837.53 -0.07
FTSE MIB 13057.26 -0.74
TSX Composite 11549.71 -0.23
ASX 4120.2 0.96
Hang seng 18800.99 0.47
Straits Times 2787.22 0.52
ISEQ 20 501.76 0.16
You are here: Home News French News French rights groups slam plans for migrant charter to Kabul

French News

archive
Enlarge font Decrease font Text size


07/10/2009French rights groups slam plans for migrant charter to Kabul

French rights groups and the left-wing opposition Tuesday slammed government plans to deport dozens of Afghan migrants rounded up in the port of Calais, reportedly on a joint charter flight with Britain.

Riot police detained scores of mostly Afghan migrants last month, many of them minors, when they bulldozed a makeshift camp called the "jungle" that was used as a base to cross the Channel to Britain.

French Immigration Minister Eric Besson told Le Monde newspaper on Monday that charter flights would leave in the coming days to deport failed asylum seekers.

President Nicolas Sarkozy said after the raid on 22 September that Paris and London would mount joint charter flights to deport the migrants, the first by the two countries since 2005.

Besson's ministry denied a claim from an aid group saying that a Franco-British charter was to leave London for Kabul on Tuesday night, stopping to pick up 10 migrants in northern France.

But the Cimade migrant support group and some 30 other associations issued a joint call for the government to abandon its plans for charters to Kabul.

"Afghanistan is a country at war. It is unacceptable to send people back there who escaped to Europe in search of protection," they wrote.

About 276 migrants were detained in the 22 September Calais raid, but judges in the various towns where they were sent to detention centres have ordered around 100 of them to be released over rights breaches.

But Besson told Le Monde that Sarkozy was determined the charter flights would go ahead.

"The head of state was categorical... in saying that the dismantling of the Calais “jungle” must be followed with repatriations, or else we will never settle this problem," Besson said.

Britain, which last year stopped 28,000 migrants trying to cross the 35 kilometres (22 miles) of water separating it from France, praised the raid.

But activists denounced it as a media stunt that would drive migrants further underground.

Rather than rounding up migrants, both the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the EU's justice commissioner say the priority should be to offer full and fair asylum rights to migrants across the European Union.

AFP/Expatica


0 reactions to this article

Be the first person to add a comment

General rating: Not rated yet

Rate article:    Add my rating



0 reactions to this article

Be the first person to add a comment
Discussion Forums

Television in France

Buy fake passports, driver's licenses, identity cards

Eating & Drinking in France

Buy fake passports, driver's licenses, identity cards

Humour in France

Buy fake passports, driver's licenses, identity cards

Shopping in France

Buy fake passports, driver's licenses, identity cards

Films, Shows & Events in France

Buy fake passports, driver's licenses, identity cards

participate in the forums

Inside Expatica
Management culture in France

Management culture in France

This handy guide from Expertise in Labour Mobility includes information on business hierarchy, negotiations, and etiquette.

American associations and clubs in Paris

American associations and clubs in Paris

A listing of organizations in the Paris area that cater primarily to Americans living in France. Updated April 2011.

British associations and clubs in Paris

British associations and clubs in Paris

Our handy guide to the British community in Paris, from cricket clubs to Scottish country dancing lessons to where to find a jar of Marmite.

Anglophone services in France

Anglophone services in France

Here's a short introduction to our Banking section for those living in France, from how to open a bank account to Islamic banking and investments.