Latest news with #FranceTerred'Asile
LeMonde
3 days ago
- Politics
- LeMonde
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem: 'On migration issues, we would like those in power to stick to the numbers, facts and science'
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, president of the France Terre d'Asile association which supports asylum seekers and former education minister, has published a book with economist Benjamin Michallet aimed at debunking common misconceptions about people fleeing persecution or death: Réfugiés. Ce qu'on ne nous dit pas ("Refugees: What We're Not Told"). On July 4, gendarmes slashed an inflatable boat full of migrants who were attempting to cross the Channel to reach England, claiming it was to "protect" them. Do you feel that French methods have become increasingly aggressive? Yes, and it's time to take stock of this militarization of the border, which is very expensive and has no effect: 20,000 people have crossed the Channel since January, compared to 12,000 in the same period in 2024. These methods are pushing even more people to want to reach the United Kingdom. The crossings are made even more dangerous – overcrowded boats, use of smugglers – with a record 78 deaths in 2024. Yet other solutions exist: In France, we could have a dignified reception, support for asylum or for unaccompanied minors under child welfare services; and in England, the opening of legal pathways from France (asylum, family reunification, work). When French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau deployed 4,000 police officers and gendarmes over two days, June 18 and 19, to "arrest undocumented people," there was little reaction from society. Has the boundary of what is considered "acceptable" expanded?
Ya Biladi
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Ya Biladi
New book by Najat Vallaud-Belkacem explores urgent refugee issues in Europe
Currently serving as president of the association France Terre d'Asile, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem has co-authored a new book with Benjamin Michallet, an economist specializing in forced displacement and an assessor judge appointed by the UNHCR at France's National Court of Asylum. Titled Refugees – What We Aren't Told (published by Stock), the book will be released on May 21, 2025, and explores the complexities of migration within the European asylum framework. A subject often approached polemically or exploited for political ends, migration is more urgent than ever. «Images of migrants in makeshift boats fuel growing public anxiety, while human rights advocates helplessly count the dead in the Mediterranean or the English Channel…» notes the publisher. «If there's one topic that pits two entrenched camps against each other—impervious to opposing arguments—it's this one. Yet, as the world changes in every possible way, for better or worse—through international conflicts, climate change with its all-too-predictable consequences, and crises that know no borders—it is urgent to break this deadlock», the statement continues. A former Minister for Women's Rights and later of National Education, Higher Education, and Research, Vallaud-Belkacem brings her political experience to the table. Together with Michallet, she offers a multidisciplinary perspective aimed at anticipating future migration flows and exploring how to reconcile the protection of displaced people with the well-being of host societies—through a clear understanding of data, statistics, and public policy evaluations. The authors argue that «the widespread confusion surrounding these issues is what feeds the sense of being overwhelmed». This is why their book draws on «the latest international research» to shed light on the situation by addressing simple yet often overlooked questions absent from mainstream debate.
