French government 'tighten' asylum and migration policy

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Source: France24

By Ségolène Allemandou

As he presented his party’s campaign platform ahead of next year’s presidential and legislative elections, French Interior Minister Claude Gueant laid down the gauntlet to the far right by hardening the government’s position on immigration.

“It’s easier for immigrants to integrate if there are less of them,” Gueant told Europe 1 radio. “It’s obvious that we need to better manage the flow of immigrants. For immigration to work, we need to be welcoming fewer immigrants each year.”

The statement echoed the priority given to immigration issues during French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s successful 2007 election campaign. But it also rekindled accusations that the UMP, France’s ruling party, is trying to steal a march on France’s far-right National Front (FN) by playing the anti-immigration card.

According to recent opinion polls, the FN’s presidential candidate Marine Le Pen enjoys support ranging between 16% and 20% among French voters. For his part, the current president benefits from marginally less support than his main opponent Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande, whom pollster LH2 gave 30% (a drop of nine points since he won the Socialist party primaries) in a survey last week.

As a result, Sarkozy - who has yet to officially announce his candidature - has a lot of ground to make up, especially among right wing swing voters.

“The UMP is once more taking up its 2007 strategy of hunting on FN territory”, Jerome Fouquet, co-director of the French pollster IFOP told FRANCE 24.

Among the measures “for better management of the flow of immigrants” announced by Gueant are a toughening of the conditions necessary to obtain French citizenship and of the rules allowing an immigrant living in France to be joined by family members.

Other measures include increasing the number of expulsions of illegal immigrants and increasing the capacity of detention centres.

On November 27, Gueant announced that he wanted to reduce the number of legal immigrants coming to France annually from 200,000 to 180,000, a 10% decrease. (“Legal immigration” includes individuals coming to France on work and study visas and those seeking asylum).

After toughening the conditions on work and study visas, Gueant announced last week reforms to the asylum system in France, including a reduction in the asylum budget and a shortening of the time frame during which asylum applications have to be made. Currently, the asylum budget allows for 21,500 places in reception centres, 20,000 emergency lodgings and temporary social benefits for another 37,000 asylum seekers.

The reforms would also expand the list of “safe” countries, whose citizens would no longer qualify for asylum in France.

Voters’ concerns on economy and immigration

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Looking back at IDAHO 2011: interview with Louis-Georges Tin

Louis-Georges Tin image by yXeLLe ~@rtBrut~ via Flickr

Source: Tetu

An interview with the President of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), renowned French activist Louis-Georges Tin [Via Google Translate].

Tetu: What can we learn from IDAHO 2011, a month later, in terms of its actions?

Louis-Georges Tin: The international campaign launched around May 17 reached more than 200 million people in over 70 countries around the world. The mobilisation is increasing year by year, with the field work of activists.

In addition, the IDAHO Committee received two major advances at the institutional level: first, the Director General of Unesco, Bokova, make a statement on May 17, supporting the fight against homophobia and transphobia. This is a historic first. These are strong words, which should be followed by actions - we will be vigilant. Second major breakthrough, the IDAHO Committee received May 17, the French government asked the International Labour Organisation to take action against discrimination faced by LGBT people in the world of work, and to conduct an international investigation into the subject. It will push until the ILO accepts, but for the subject to be raised at this level is already a big step, because these surveys are important tools in the fight against discrimination.

Tetu: Can we say that the French government is mobilised against homophobia?

IDAHO in Beijing

Louis-Georges Tin: The government, on the whole, no. Moreover, the prime minister is languishing in the depths of the ranking of IDAHOmètre we published with TÊTU on May 17. Same for the Overseas Territories, Justice, Culture and Education ministries. However, on the occasion of IDAHO 2011, more than ten departments are committed to our side by taking effective measures. And in some cases, they're very important advances.

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In France, immigration reform means seriously ill can be kicked out

ActUp protest in Paris against new French immigration bill

Source: Yagg

By Christophe Martet

Gone is the law allowing seriously ill foreigners to stay in France to receive care or treatment which enables them to stay alive.

MPs and senators, meeting at a joint commission Wednesday 4  May finally adopted Article 17b of the  'immigration, integration and citizenship' bill which reforms the conditions for granting a residence permit for medical reasons which were previously available to foreign citizens living in France, usually those who are very seriously ill.

Now it will be possible to deport any alien even if the patient care and treatments are "absent" in their country of origin. At present the state has to prove that treatment or care is actually available for the person before they can be removed. In practice, this was very difficult. One word can change everything and decide the fate of thousands of people: no country in the world, treatment or care is "absent". But often, especially in developing countries, they are restricted to a tiny minority.

Act Up says that this law will condemn 28,000 foreign patients and they are denouncing Nicolas Sarkozy, [Prime Minister] François Fillon and [Interior Minister] Claude Gueant and parliamentarians who have supported this measure. They and other groups are calling for civil disobedience (see our video report of the event before the Senate, Tuesday, May 3).

The National AIDS Council (NAC), led by Professor Rozenbaum, described the reform as "inept and dangerous." In its statement, the NSC said that the expert analysis of scientific and administrative bodies showed "the deleterious nature of these provisions that will result in disastrous consequences for the health and rights of subjects, which is objectively harmful to the health of the whole population will lead to additional costs to the public finances."

The statement continues: "The National AIDS Council is concerned that arguments based on preconceptions, approximations and cons-evident truths have finally won the legislature's decision, in disregard of the realities of healthcare objective and principles of rational analysis [which should] guide the development of public policies and serve the community. "

Related articles

• France will send migrants without funds back to Italy - Irish Times (news.google.com)
• Concerns raised over new French immigration bill (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Last gay Holocaust survivor to receives France's top honour

Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur

By Paul Canning

The last known survivor of the Nazi holocaust of homosexuals is to be awarded France's top honour, Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honour), on the recommendation of French President Nicholas Sarkozy.

97 year old Rudolf Brazda spent nearly three years at the Buchenwald concentration camp. His prisoner uniform was branded with the distinctive pink triangle. The award was announced 66 years to the day that he finally left Buchenwald.

Philippe Couillet, president of Les Oublié(e)s de la Mémoire (the association which campaigns for recognition of the suffering of so-called 'pink triangles'), said Brazda's award "marks a further step in the recognition of the deportation of homosexuals" and rewards his bravery in speaking publicly about his experience.

Brazda's life has been documented in a new book 'Das Glück kam immer zu mir' ("Happiness always came to me," which is sort of his motto as he believes he survived through unbroken humor and optimism). Author Alexander Zinn. filmed his research and interviews, as well as Brazda's shattering return to Buchenwald, for a new documentary, which he hopes should come out this year.

It was only in 2008 that Brazda's story first came to light. After hearing of the unveiling of the Berlin moment to the 'pink triangles', he decided to tell his story. He has previously received the gold medals of the cities of Toulouse and Nancy

In spite of his old age, and health permitting, Brazda is determined to continue speaking out about his past, in the hope that younger generations remain vigilant in the face of present day behaviour and thoughts similar to those which led to the persecutions endured by homosexuals during the Nazi era. 

Brazda will receive his award Thursday 28 April during a speech to students at College Puteaux (in Hauts-de-Seine). It will be presented to him by Marie-José of Chombart Lauwe, a former resistance fighter who was deported to the Ravensbrück work camp and who is now president of la Fondation pour la mémoire de la déportation (the Foundation for the memory of the deportation).

HT: Têtu

Related articles

• Last gay Holocaust survivor celebrated in book, documentary (madikazemi.blogspot.com) 
• Video: the last gay Holocaust survivor (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

How EU integration bars the persecuted from finding refuge in Europe

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Source: guardian.co.uk

By Les Back

The European commission's enthusiasm for "diversity talk" is connected to an admirable yearning to see Europe as a place of refuge to those facing persecution.

The desire for a more integrated Europe is in part a response to the shadow that Nazism cast over the ideals of European civilisation. But the experience of those seeking asylum in Europe today is closer to this past than many in Brussels would find comfortable.

Recent years have seen a convergence by centrist governments in western Europe with regard to migration policies, including the Lisbon treaty, the returns directive and the proposal for a European blue card. Taken together these shifts have effectively hardened the attitude of European states on the issues of border control.

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Misery follows the 'jungle camp' raid

By Jean Lambert

Looking over this desolate landscape, it is hard to believe that just a month ago this was the site of Calais's migrant "jungle" camp. Save for the odd lone shoe or broken radio this area, where trees and bracken once provided refuge, has been cleared and ploughed into a muddy wasteland.

With the media looking on, the resident migrants were dramatically removed by the French authorities last month. Knowing of the impending raid, many had dispersed in advance, some of whom are now living on the streets in Paris. Of those who were detained, some were deported and others were later released. Weeks later, hundreds have returned to Calais, where they are again sleeping rough and surviving on food handouts.

I visited Calais and the Sangatte refugee centre, a facility run by the Red Cross to provide shelter and food, 10 years ago. I was told at the time that it encouraged migrants. Nicolas Sarkozy, then the interior minister of France, demanded its destruction in 2002 and with it, hopefully, the problem.

A decade later and many criticisms of the French authorities made then are still valid. The UNHCR is currently operating on the streets as there is no refugee centre, and while permission has been granted to use a building to process asylum seekers, its provision is a continuing cause for dispute between the authorities involved.

There has been increased and targeted police harassment, with young men saying they have been picked up and held overnight in cells then dropped miles from Calais to find their way back alone.

And it is very difficult for the migrants, a large proportion of whom have travelled overland from Afghanistan, to find information on asylum in any language other than French. When I visited Sangatte with fellow Green MEPs, we tried to remedy this situation by producing a booklet on asylum procedures in six languages. I have heard that this is still in circulation today.

While the French want to deter mass migration to Calais, it's clear that people will continue to pass through it to reach the UK for the foreseeable future. We now need to address the immediate humanitarian situation.

A centre to provide basic amenities – such as showers, drinking water, medical care and overnight shelter – is the most urgent need, since these people are extremely vulnerable. Many are under 18 and therefore legally classified as children. Despite fears, tighter laws on immigration to the UK mean that a camp of a similar size to Sangatte is unlikely to ever rematerialise. A separate office should also be set up where people can find information as well as lodge and follow their asylum claim through the system. One man I met had his papers to prove he was a legitimate refugee, but he was still without accommodation and the stability necessary to pursue language courses or work. Providing these centres could help people like him move on with their lives and would ensure that those under 18 are identified and protected.

Current EU legislation requires that asylum seekers are dealt with in the first safe country they enter, although national asylum standards vary hugely. As well as having connections to the UK, many want to wait until they arrive here to apply because our system functions relatively well.

The EU is trying to address this by upgrading all national systems to the same high standard. This would mean that no matter where someone applies for asylum their claim would be assessed by the same criteria and their reasons for wishing to settle in a certain country could be taken into account, if they are allowed to stay. The proposed European Asylum Support Office is designed to assist this improvement.

Along with colleagues in the European parliament, I have also called for a new status for those who are not eligible for asylum, but who cannot be returned to their country of origin – for instance if that country is in conflict, or indeed if the supposed country of origin won't accept them. Unable to return home or work or claim benefits, they can be left destitute and fall into the hands of gangs and illegal activity. Awarding them a legal status could give them leave to remain temporarily and the chance to earn a basic living.

What is clear is that until the conditions of their countries of origin are improved people will continue to arrive in the EU, in search of security, work, education and a better life. France's tactics for dealing with migrants have failed to solve the problems in Calais; indeed their approach has hindered the process of registering and monitoring people's movements. Now they must ensure that internationally agreed asylum and human rights are upheld, and with developments in European legislation I hope that long-term solutions can be found.

Ramzy est libre et régularisé !

Il y a 2 semaines, nous - les Amoureux au Ban Public, l’ARDHIS, l’Inter-LGBT et SOS Racisme - vous avions alerté de la situation de Ramzy, ressortissant tunisien, interpellé à la gare de Bordeaux et consécutivement placé en centre de rétention, malgré les risques encourus en cas de retour forcé dans son pays d’origine.

Présent en France depuis près de 10 ans, il a quitté son pays afin de pouvoir vivre dans la sérénité et la sécurité son homosexualité dont la révélation conduirait à son exclusion de toute vie sociale dans son pays d’origine et le rendrait passible d’une peine d’emprisonnement ferme d’une durée de trois années (Art. 230 du Code Pénal Tunisien). En outre, Ramzy est veuf d’un ressortissant français : en effet, en 2006, son compagnon Brahim, avec lequel il était pacsé, est décédé d’un cancer foudroyant.

Gräce à la formidable mobilisation de tous, militants associatifs, simples citoyens ou personnalités politiques, Ramzy a été libéré et la préfecture de Gironde vient de lui délivrer une autorisation provisoire de séjour l’autorisant à travailler en vu de sa régularisation. Il va pouvoir se reposer pour envisager ensuite le futur avec confiance.

Nous sommes évidemment heureux et soulagés de savoir Ramzy libre et bientôt régularisé. Cependant, nous n’oublions pas que nombre de personnes lesbiennes, bi, gaies et transsexuelles subissent un retour forcé vers leur pays d'origine alors que la pratique homosexuelle y est pénalisée et réprimée (plus de 70 pays incriminent le délit d’homosexualité).

Nous rappelons les déclarations du candidat Sarkozy : "Être persécuté en raison de sa sexualité, c’est choquant et inadmissible. La France doit faire sienne cette position chaque fois qu’un homosexuel est martyrisé parce qu’il est homosexuel". Raison pour laquelle nos associations demandent de nouveau au Président de la République d’accorder protection aux personnes homosexuelles et transsexuelles et de mettre fin à la pratique des expulsions vers ces pays répressifs.

1 Dans un souci de protection, l’identité de l’intéressé a été modifiée.

2 CP inter associatif Amoureux au Ban Public, ARDHIS, Inter LGBT, SOS Racisme : « M. le Président de la République, protégez Ramzy ! », 26/06/09

3 Interview de M. Nicolas Sarkozy accordée au magazine Têtu en avril 2007.

~~~~~~~~~~

Translation: French » English

Ramzy is regulated and free!

2 weeks ago, we - love to Ban Public, the ARDHIS, Inter-LGBT and SOS Racisme - you were alerted of the situation Ramzy, a Tunisian national, arrested at the train station in Bordeaux and consecutively placed in the center of retention, despite the risks involved in cases of forced return to his country of origine.

Present in France for nearly 10 years, he left his country to live in peace and security as a homosexual whose disclosure would lead to its exclusion from social life in his home country and make it punishable by a penalty of imprisonment for a term of three years (Art. 230 of the Tunisian Criminal Code). In addition, Ramzy is a widower of a national french: indeed, in 2006, Brahim his companion, with whom he was pacsé, died of cancer foudroyant.

Thanks to the tremendous efforts of all, activists, ordinary citizens or politicians, Ramzy was released, and the prefecture of Gironde has to issue a temporary stay allowing it to work because of its regularization. It will be able to relax then to consider the future with confidence.

We are obviously pleased and relieved to know Ramzy free and soon corrected. However, we do not forget that many lesbians, bi, gay and transgendered face a forced return to their country of origin while homosexual practice is penalized and punished (more than 70 countries criminalize the crime of homosexuality) .

We recall the statements of the candidate Sarkozy: "Being persecuted for his sexuality, it is shocking and unacceptable. France must endorse that position every time a homosexual was tortured because he is gay". Why our associations ask again to the President of the Republic to grant protection to homosexuals and transgendered people and to stop the evictions to these repressive countries.

1 In order to protect the identity of the person concerned has been changed.

2 CP inter associatif love Ban Public ARDHIS, Inter LGBT, SOS Racisme, "Mr. President of the Republic, protect Ramzy! "26/06/09

3 Interview with Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy paid to Tetu magazine in April 2007.