COUNTRY REPORT IMMIGRATION DETENTION IN FRANCE: LONGER, MORE WIDESPREAD, AND HARDER TO CONTEST October 2018 COUNTRY REPORT IMMIGRATION DETENTION IN FRANCE: LONGER, MORE WIDESPREAD, AND HARDER TO CONTEST OCTOBER 2018 THE GLOBAL DETENTION PROJECT MISSION The Global Detention Project (GDP) is a non-profit organisation based in Geneva that promotes the human rights of people who have been detained for reasons related to their non-citizen status. Our mission is: • To promote the human rights of detained migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers; • To ensure transparency in the treatment of immigration detainees; • To reinforce advocacy aimed at reforming detention systems; • To nurture policy-relevant scholarship on the causes and consequences of migration control policies. Global Detention Project 3 rue de Varembé 1202 Geneva Switzerland Email:
[email protected] Website: www.globaldetentionproject.org Front cover image: Activists from La Cimade stage a protest against France’s controversial new legislation—dubbed the Code de la honte (“code of shame”)—outside the Paris National Assembly, April 2018. © Célia Bonnin This report is also available online at www.globaldetentionproject.org CONTENTS Glossary 6 Key Concerns 7 1. Introduction 8 2. Laws, Policies, Practices 12 2.1 Key norms 12 2.2 Grounds for detention 13 2.3 Asylum seekers 13 2.4 Children 16 2.5 Other vulnerable groups 21 2.5a People with disabilities 21 2.5b Women 21 2.6 EU citizens 21 2.7 From prison to immigration detention 22 2.8 Length of detention 23 2.9 Procedural guarantees 25 2.10 Detaining authorities and institutions 26 2.11 Non-custodial measures 27 2.12 Regulation of detention conditions 29 2.13 Domestic monitoring 29 2.14 International monitoring 30 2.15 Criminalisation 32 2.16 Privatisation 33 2.17 Cost of detention 33 2.18 Externalisation, readmission, and third-country agreements 34 2.19 Transparency and access to information 34 2.20 Trends and statistics 35 2.21 The case of Mayotte 35 3.