France condemned by European justice for the expulsion of children to the Comoros

It is aboard a kwassa-kwassa, a traditional boat that the migrants tried to reach Mayotte AFP / Alexander Joe

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France was severely condemned by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday for the detention and expulsion of two children aged 3 and 5 who entered Mayotte illegally in 2013. The State will therefore have to pay 22,500 euros to the two children and their father for non-pecuniary damage.

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In November 2013, the two children left the Comoros aboard a kwassa-kwassa, a makeshift boat , to try to join their father, who has been living in Mayotte legally since 1994. On board, they do not know anyone.

The 17 passengers are arrested at sea by the French authorities and placed in a detention center. On the same day, the children were administratively attached to one of the other migrants and returned to the Comoros, without their father being able to contact them.

Inhuman and degrading treatment

The Court found seven violations of the European Convention on Human Rights by the French State, in particular those on the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment, on the right to liberty and security or on the right to respect private and family life. In its decision, it considers that “  the removal of the two children, of a very young age, which no adult knew or assisted, was decided and implemented without granting them the guarantee of a reasonable examination and objective of their situation  ". This "  could only have generated anxiety stress and have particularly traumatic consequences for their psyche  ".

The human rights defender in France welcomed the ECHR's judgment in a press release. He deplores that "  for several years Mayotte remains an exceptional land where the confinement of children is the rule  ". He asked that “  immediately stop  ” the “  fictitious attachment of children to third parties  ” with a view to their expulsion.

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  • France
  • Comoros
  • Rights of the child
  • Human rights
  • European Union