REPORTING. Unaccompanied minors occupy a disused school in the 16th arrondissement of Paris to “enforce their rights”

In the playground of the school, which has been abandoned for four years, a dozen young people improvise a game of football under the spring sun. Most are from West and Central Africa: they tell the same stories, often dramatic: “Crossing a sea is the most difficult story we live, because we risk our lives!”, explains one of them. Their arrival in Europe, the life of wandering and misery in France, but also their hopes frozen for the moment. “We came here to continue our studies and to work”says another.

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Nikolai Posner, coordinator at the Utopia 56 association, is at the origin of this occupation: “We are with 200 young foreigners, isolated, who are today in a street situation, that is to say that they are confronted daily with violence, cold, fear and loneliness.”

“One day, the police came to attack us at Porte de la Villette. They tore down the tents and took our belongings.”

A young unaccompanied minor accompanied by Utopia 56

at franceinfo

“What we are trying to do is to uphold their rights”adds Nikolai Posner. “Their right to accommodation, to support, and for that, unfortunately, you have to go through this type of action.”

“Until a solution is found, we will stay here”

The disused building is not equipped to accommodate these 200 young people. “Unfortunately, we only have the bare minimum in terms of equipment”explains Nikolaï Posner. “We distribute blankets, enough to eat breakfast, but there is no water supply, so we had to build our own dry toilets.” On the floor, makeshift blankets and mattresses serve as makeshift beds.

In one of the abandoned classrooms, volunteers from Médecins sans Frontières and Médecins du Monde hold consultations. Many of these exiles need urgent care, warns Paul Alauzy, coordinator of the program with exiles in Paris for Doctors of the World. “If you spend three weeks in a tent, you will be malnourished, tired. You will suffer from dermatological problems due to promiscuity”he develops.

“If these young people were Ukrainians, they would be in an accommodation center at Porte de la Villette today, and they would be more quickly directed to longer-term accommodation somewhere on French territory.”

Paul Alauzy, Project Manager for Doctors of the World

at franceinfo

“There is a real difference in treatment that we denounce loud and clear”, is indignant Paul Alauzy, project manager for Doctors of the World. Many of these young people have started administrative procedures to regularize their situation, some are waiting for an appointment with a juvenile judge. “Until a solution is found, we will stay here”says Nikolai Posner. “So we hope things will move forward quickly!” Asked by franceinfo, the prefecture of Île de France did not respond.