‘DEGRADING TREATMENT’ CONDEMNED
JUDGES have condemned France for its ‘degrading and inhumane’ treatment of refugees in a scathing landmark ruling.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said French authorities ‘had failed in their duties’ to support those who applied for asylum in the country, leaving them to sleep rough on the streets for months in ‘constant fear of being attacked or robbed’.
Its criticism came after three asylumseekers accused the French government of failing to uphold its own domestic law which requires the state to provide basic necessities, such as food and shelter, while refugees await a decision on their asylum application. The ECHR ordered the French government to pay a total of £32,000 in compensation to the men.
The case involved a Russian, an Afghan and an Iranian journalist who had to wait up to eight months before the French authorities acknowledged that they had lodged asylum applications. Without such a formal acknowledgement, the men could not apply for housing or welfare payments.
News of the ruling comes as British and French charities accuse police in Calais of meting out violence to migrants. Aid workers claim French riot police now regularly raid migrant camps, slashing their tents with knives and confiscating their belongings.
The police have also been accused of attacking migrants on the streets.
Poppy Cleary, a British aid co-ordinator with the charity L’Auberge des Migrants, said French police had doubled their raids on refugee camps in Calais in recent weeks.
She added: ‘The police treatment is another factor why so many migrants are making the journey across the Channel.’
Last night, the French police in Calais and the French embassy in London were unavailable for comment.