NGOs denounce rights violated at the Franco-Spanish border

France is guilty of “serious violations” rights towards migrants on its border with Spain, where NGOs accuse it of applying “the same recipe” than at the Italian border. According to a report published on Wednesday May 10 by the Coordination of actions at internal borders (Cafi), of which Amnesty International and Doctors of the World are members, Paris has considerably “reinforced” its checks since 2019.

According to the NGOs, which carried out several observation missions in 2019 and 2022, they are exercised in a “discriminatory” And “to face”thanks to the restoration of border controls since 2015. As a result, these migrants suffer “serious violations” of their rights. While national, European and international legislation should allow them to seek asylum at the border, the report denounces “expeditious repressions”. “Procedures are sometimes done on the hood of a police car in three minutes”illustrates Lydie Arbogast, responsible for European issues for La Cimade.

Neither the Pyrénées-Atlantiques prefecture nor the Interior Ministry communicated the number of people “discounts” in Spain, according to the established administrative vocabulary. But these controls, now reinstated on 37 “authorized crossing points”, such as stations and toll gates, have the effect of pushing migrants to take more risks to cross the border, denounce the NGOs. Some take hiking trails, walk on the highway, train tracks or swim in the river. According to the report, “at least 12 people have died at this border” between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2022.