RIGHTS: Children Face Expulsion, to Save French Identity

By Julio Godoy Reprint | | Print |

Julio Godoy

PARIS, May 23 2006 (IPS) - Five-year-old Mariama could be taken away from France Jun. 30. By that date all children of illegal immigrants must leave France, under an order issued October last year.

Mariama is the daughter of a Senegalese couple in Suresnes, 20km north of Paris. She is among about 30,000 children and youth that the French police have been ordered to expel, or as officially stated, to “escort to the borders..”

But that expulsion policy is being contested by school, church, and municipal authorities, and by many French citizens. The network of teachers and state school workers ‘Education sans frontiers’ (Education without borders) has launched a campaign to protect immigrant children.

‘Education without borders’ represents some 130 associations of teachers and parents. The network has released a declaration ‘We will shelter and nourish them’, urging French citizens to oppose the expulsion policy.

“We will not allow state authorities to commit this infamy against children in our names,” Hélène Dugros, a teacher at a primary school in Blagnac village 800km south of Paris told IPS. Seven of the 15 children in her class are from immigrant families. “I will protect as many as I can,” she said.

The call is finding widespread support, even though the October 2005 order provides for up to five years imprisonment and a fine of up to 30,000 euros (37,000 dollars) for anyone helping immigrant children.

“I am taking the risk of breaking this law,” Pierre Labeyrie, local deputy for the Green Party in Toulouse declared. “I will support immigrant children and their parents, I will give them shelter in my home, and I will refuse all cooperation with the police.”

Teacher Bruno Leroy says democrats in France have no choice but to violate the law.

“We will not allow (the authorities) to destroy these children’s lives. They are our students, our own children’s buddies,” Leroy told IPS. “They speak our language, they learn at our schools, they have the very same joys as us, as our children.”

Leroy rejected the argument that the order should be respected because it has been passed by a democratically elected government. “If people always would have respected wrong laws formulated by democratic governments, then blacks in the U.S. would still be suffering from officially-sanctioned racism,” he said.

Leroy cited the case of Rosa Parks. On Dec. 1, 1955, Parks refused to obey the segregation law that would have compelled her to give up a seat in a bus to a white passenger. In so doing, she helped trigger a fight for civil rights. She died in October 2005.

In France the fight is being taken up by several celebrities. Among them are filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier, pop musician Mano Solo, cartoonist Jacques Tardy and educationist Philippe Merieu.

Some municipal authorities are refusing to cooperate with the police. Deputy mayor of Paris Eric Ferrand who is in charge of schools declared: “The municipal government of Paris will not provide any assistance (to police) which could lead to the identification of children attending schools in the city.” Ferrand urged “all actors of school life in Paris to refuse cooperation” with the police.

The pursuit of immigrant children is becoming embarrassing for the police.

Last month a police squad arrived early morning at a hotel in Lyon, 600 km south of Paris, where a group of immigrant children were being sheltered. Among the children to be expelled was Azérie, seven-year-old daughter of Armenian parents, and her two elder brothers.

When the police arrived, Azérie simply hid under the bed. The police chose not to drag her out, and left saying that in such a case they would have to arrest the mother as well.

French governments of all colours have been expelling illegal immigrants for the last 15 years. In 2004, the government expelled about 16,000 people. The number increased to almost 20,000 in 2005, and is expected to rise to 30,000 this year.

The expulsion of children forms a part of the policy introduced by minister for the interior Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarkozy, who will be running for president early next year, has introduced another law this year toughening conditions for foreigners wishing to settle in France.

The law, which was approved by parliament May 17, tightens control over bi-national marriages, and on travel for relatives of immigrants living in France. It establishes new criteria to select immigrants.

Sarkozy, who defended the law saying that France needed to “choose” immigrants instead of “suffering” them, has been accused of wooing the right-wing electorate, which won about 15 percent of the vote in the last election.

Didier Fassin, president of the French medical committee to protect exiles, has described the new law as “the most restrictive since World War II, and one that will have grave social and humanitarian consequences.”

Fassin told IPS that the French parliament has passed five laws on immigration in less than 20 years, each more restrictive than the earlier one. “These laws have all aggravated the living conditions of immigrants and exiles, leading to the degradation of our social tissue.”

Socialist parliamentarian Bernard Roman accused Sarkozy in parliament of trying “to seduce the reactionary electorate.” Sarkozy told the National Assembly: “Immigration is a source of anxiety among our compatriots, who fear for their security, their jobs and their way of life.” He said the aim of the new law was to shape “France’s identity in 30 years.”

As Sarkozy sees it, Mariama will not be a part of that identity – unless her supporters succeed is saving her from expulsion.