Several civil organizations called on the United Nations to open an investigation into the treatment of unaccompanied foreign minors in France, considering that their rights are subjected to "gross and systematic violations."
Utopia 56, one of the associations that supports this measure, stated that French administrations systematically violate the rights of minors arriving in the country but not their parents.
Utopia 56 director Mile de Marcellus said that France does not fulfill its responsibilities towards minors, and that the French administration leaves foreign children on the streets without the necessary care.
The associations call on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to open an "investigation into the violations committed by France, which is a signatory to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child."
Many foreign teenagers who arrive in France each year suffer from "minority denial," according to these associations.
According to the associations, it is often announced that they have reached the age of majority, and therefore are not covered by child protection laws.
Utopia 56 condemned in its statement "the lack of financial, human and material resources that the state allocates to administrations" and "the absence of an effective national authority for control or coordination" in this field.