The Defender of Rights, Claire Hédon, said on Wednesday evening that she was “particularly attentive to the unconditional respect” of fundamental rights in the context of the Wuambushu security operation carried out in Mayotte, and announced the dispatch of a delegation of lawyers to the island.
“The Defender of Rights is particularly attentive to the unconditional respect of the fundamental rights of individuals”, indicated Claire Hédon in a press release, announcing the arrival in Mayotte “of a delegation of lawyers” who will be responsible for “carrying out checks, draw up findings and carry out investigations if necessary”.
Recognizing “a particularly tense and complex situation”, she recalled that “the need to guarantee public order and security cannot, in any case, authorize infringements of the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals”.
“A certain rush”
“The guarantee of the right to appeal seems incompatible with the expeditious nature of the procedures implemented”, she added, saying for example that she regretted “the speed of processing individual cases which sometimes resembles a certain haste”.
Some 1,800 police and gendarmes, including several hundred from mainland France, have been deployed in recent weeks to Mayotte, in the Indian Ocean, for an operation against crime and unsanitary housing.
This one, criticized by many human rights organizations, however started badly for the French authorities, the court of Mamoudzou having canceled at the last minute the evacuation Tuesday of a first shantytown. Before the start of Operation Wuambushu (“recovery” in Mahoran), Claire Hédon said she was “particularly worried” about “the actions announced”.