Young migrants have been setting up tents on La Canebière, in Marseille, for three days to warn of their lack of care by the Bouches-du-Rhône department, which disputes their minority, noted a journalist.
In France, the departmental councils have the obligation of “provisional emergency collection” for unaccompanied foreign minors, immediate shelter provided for by law pending the assessment of the young person’s situation by the social services. and educational.
The Bouches-du-Rhône department, which was severely criticized by the Defender of Rights last year for its shortcomings in the care of foreign minors, disputes that young people on La Canebière are minors.
“The assessments (…) concluded that the young people were adults. If there are disputes over the assessments (…) the judicial authority will decide the issue,” he said. “We are asking the department to shelter us for the time to have a decision from the judge” decisive on the question of the minority, explained Mohamed, a young Ivorian present on this improvised camp, who prefers to keep his name quiet. .
He and his comrades installed under a bandstand unfurled a banner with the slogan: “SOS minors on the street, we want our rights. “About fifty young migrants were forced, for lack of support by the department, to stay in two squats on La Canebière with the support of volunteers from associations, but the authorities proceeded on Wednesday morning to evict these places, observed a journalist.
“We defend the principle of presumption of minority”
The fifty young people have all, according to the “solidarity” groups that accompany them, appealed to a juvenile judge to obtain recognition of their status as minors. According to Médecins sans Frontière (MSF), in France, 80% of young migrants making an appeal are recognized as minors by the judges.
“This is why we defend the principle of presumption of minority which would allow young people to be taken care of”, until the end of the appeals, underlines the head of mission France of MSF, Xavier Crombé. He regrets that with these evictions from squats, “we deprive them of everything”, starting with schooling.
In 2021, the Defender of Rights had asked the prefecture “to provide assistance to the department in the search for available buildings”. The Department then estimated at 1,100 the number of unaccompanied foreign minors in the Bouches-du-Rhône.