This is one of Marine Le Pen’s reasons for refusing to accept refugees, as 2.5 million people have left Ukraine since the start of the Russian army offensive on February 24, according to a tally by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. on twitter Friday 11 March.
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The National Rally candidate for the presidential election said on Thursday, March 3, on the set of Elysee Palace 2022, that “it is only natural that we show solidarity with them.” According to her, those fleeing the invading Russian troops are “war refugees who depend on the Geneva Convention.”
This position contrasts with the far-right MP’s previous statements regarding Syrian and Afghan refugees, who were also forced to leave the country due to conflicts in their countries. When asked about this difference on set, Marine Le Pen replied, “There is no war in Afghanistan, it’s over.” The presidential candidate argues, in particular, that for Afghan women deprived of much of their rights since the return to power of the Taliban in August 2021, the “right to asylum” applies, in respect of which “you must show that you are personally persecuted by your government” . “It’s not the same procedure at all,” she concludes. But is it really so?
Contrary to what Marine Le Pen claims, the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (PDF), ratified by 145 states, including France, does not mention “war refugees”. The term has no legal meaning, explains franceinfo Céline Madeleine, a lawyer and member of the association Group for Information and Support for Immigrant Workers (Gisti).
“The term “military refugee”, like the term “political refugee”, does not exist legally. It comes from everyday language.”
Celine Madeleine, lawyer
on Franceinfo
The Geneva Convention does not establish categories of refugees. It simply provides that this status may be granted to “any person who (…), having a well-founded fear of being persecuted because of his race, his religion, his nationality, his membership of a particular social group or his political opinions, is outside outside the country of his citizenship and cannot (…) claim the protection of that country.” “Therefore, there is no specific military criterion for claiming asylum and obtaining refugee status,” explains Tania Racho, asylum and immigration specialist, member of the Les Surligneurs university lawyers team.
In France, it is the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra) that examines applications for asylum in the first place and recognizes or does not recognize refugee status, in particular on the basis of the Geneva Convention and less often on the basis of the preamble to the 1946 Constitution concerning protection journalists, intellectuals or artists. People recognized as refugees receive a ten-year residence permit, Ofpra specifies.
It is wrong to “imply that the Ukrainians will be dependent on the Geneva Convention, unlike the Afghans,” Judge Celine Madeleine. “There are Afghans who receive refugee status on the basis of the Geneva Convention,” the lawyer emphasizes. In 2020, just over a thousand Afghans were recognized as refugees by Ofpra or, on appeal, by the National Court of Asylum Law (CNDA).
However, many Afghan exiles benefit from another form of asylum provided by France: subsidiary protection. By default, when an asylum claim does not meet the criteria for refugee status, Ofpra or the CNDA can invoke this mechanism, which was introduced into law in 2003. This subsidiary protection can apply to any person “in respect of whom there are serious and proven grounds for believing that she would be at real risk in her own country,” Ofpra notes. Three serious attacks are listed: “death penalty or execution”, “torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”, or even “serious and individual threat to his life or person due to indiscriminate violence resulting in a situation of internal or international armed conflict”.
According to the Ofpra activity report (PDF), in 2020, about 6,400 Afghans benefited from this status, which, among other things, allows them to obtain a residence permit for a period of four years. “It was much easier for Afghans to access it compared to refugee status, because they only had to establish that they came from a region engulfed in hostilities,” Martha Nahay, a lawyer, explained to franceinfo in August 2021. Since the Taliban came to power in the summer of 2021, the concept of war in this country has become more debatable, experts interviewed by Franceinfo admit. However, this does not prevent the French authorities from granting subsidiary protection at the risk of “inhuman or degrading treatment,” the CNDA explained in October.
The exodus of millions of civilians fleeing Ukraine has led the European Union to introduce another mechanism never before used: temporary protection. This mechanism, shaped by a 2001 European directive in the context of the war in the former Yugoslavia and later in Kosovo, should allow the Twenty-Seven to “handle the massive influx” of displaced people, deciphers Doctor of European Law Tania Racho.
This exceptional procedure is intended for people fleeing the war in Ukraine, regardless of whether they are citizens of Ukraine or permanently reside in this country. Like refugee status, temporary protection allows them to stay in the European Union, work there, access social assistance and housing, the school system and health care. However, this mechanism is applied only for one year with the possibility of extension, “with the idea that when the situation improves, they will be able to return to their country,” analyzes Tanya Racho.
“This is a temporary status of immediate protection,” Marlene Schiappa told Franceinfo on Tuesday. “A Ukrainian who arrives in France is immediately under protection status,” the Minister Delegate for Citizenship specified.
Acceptance of Ukrainian refugees ➡️ “As soon as there are families who need France, France will be there. Every Ukrainian who comes should be able to have housing,” says the Delegate Minister for Citizenship. pic.twitter.com/L2hJQZChGL
— FranceInfo (@franceinfo) March 8, 2022
This device was introduced to avoid “saturating the asylum system, which is already very difficult in France,” says Celine Madeleine. In 2019, the processing of Ofpra and CNDA requests took an average of 325 days, i.e. almost 11 months, according to a report by the Forum Réfugiés-Cosi association (PDF) published in June 2020. With a system of temporary protection, “the impact should therefore be granted asylum more gradually,” Ofpra director Julien Boucher assured on Tuesday, heard by the Senate about the admission of Ukrainians .
In the long term, if the conflict continues, “shelter will be replaced by temporary protection,” continues Ofpra’s director. Thus, a Ukrainian who wants to obtain refugee status in France will have to follow the classic path and apply for asylum at Ofpra. At the end of his case, he “will be able to take advantage of refugee status or subsidiary protection,” says Julien Boucher.
If the implementation of this temporary protection for Ukrainians was unanimous among twenty-seven, several political leaders or associations deplored the “application of variable geometry.” “This directive has never been applied in situations like this, especially when many exiles arrive at EU borders after the recent conflicts in Syria, Libya and Afghanistan,” Amnesty International regrets. During the migration crisis of 2015, “the military situation in Syria was completely within the framework of the Temporary Protection Directive,” says Tanya Racho. However, “at that time, no one wanted to activate it,” the specialist recalls.