The Council of State validated this Wednesday a controversial decree which allows the intervention of the prefectures in the assessment of the age of foreign unaccompanied minors and the use of a biometric file. But the text will be framed to "avoid any misinterpretation".
This decree of January 30, 2019 was contested by 19 associations, unions and foundations including Unicef or the Magistrates Union, who notably considered that the new measures were contrary to the "best interests of the child". They denounced in particular the open possibility for the departments in charge of this assessment to direct unaccompanied foreign minors (UAMs) to the prefectures where their fingerprints can be compared with the visa files (Visabio) and that of foreign nationals ( AGDREF).
A national file
The government's objective is to avoid abuses with adults pretending to be minors to benefit from care by child welfare - which costs two billion euros per year for unaccompanied minors. The text also enabled the establishment of a national “AEM” file (“support for the evaluation of the minority”) listing these minors, in particular in order to more easily identify foreigners who have filed applications in several departments.
"The requirement to protect the best interests of the child does not preclude the administrative authority from using information collected for the purpose of combating the illegal entry and stay of foreigners in France for assess whether a person seeking protection as a minor fulfills the legal conditions for obtaining it, "said the Conseil d'Etat in its decision, validating the essentials of the decree.
A bundle of clues to look for systematically
The highest administrative court, however, made several "clarifications" to "avoid any misinterpretation" of the text. A foreigner who declares himself a minor must for example be the subject of a “provisional emergency reception” while awaiting his assessment, without being subject to the fact of going to the prefecture.
It is not enough, also stresses the Council of State, that a young person appears as an adult in a database for it to be considered as such, the "multidisciplinary" assessment and the search for a "bundle of clues "to remain the rule. "Similarly, if a foreigner refuses to go to the prefecture, the department cannot deduce from this single refusal that the person concerned is of full age," said the Council in a press release. An expulsion, adds the Council, cannot be decided either after a visit to the prefecture "as long as the assessment (...) is not completed".
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