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JRS France - www.jrsfrance.org Political Developments The OFPRA report of 2007 points to a stabilisation of asylum demands: 35, 520, with a less centralised geographical origin (mainly Sri Lanka/India, Kosovo, Chechnya, the DRC, and Iraq), a feminisation of the asylum population, with more adults accompanied by a minor (of which, the gender is predominantly female). Asylum demands at the border, mainly at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, increased by 40% on the figures of 2006. Favourable decisions to these demands amounted to 28%. Currently in France there are some 131,000 refugees. Increasingly, the French government tried to weaken and reduce the help civil society organisations gave to asylum seekers and migrants; firstly, by modifying, unsuccessfully, the rules of legal assistance in detention centers; and secondly, by trying to modify legal procedures enabling more efficient removals. In the second half of 2008, the French presidency of the EU proposed ‘The European Pact on Immigration and Asylum’, whose aim was to reinforce the controls of migrants at the borders. A proposal for the European Asylum Support Office was scheduled to be realised at the start of 2009.

JRS Activities
Field involvement with refugees continued throughout 2008, with a dozen of volunteers conducting a number of projects, along with language courses in partnership with the Church. A number of refugees are now directly in contact with JRS France.

‘The Pierre Claver Association’ managed about 40 asylum procedures and organised language courses for about 50 people, most of the beneficiaries being asylum seekers.

Following the government’s refusal to allow the Pierre Claver Association access to the Roissy complex, the association looked for other ways to assist those most in need, and began to develop other initiatives, such as housing asylum seekers or refugees and providing meals and entertainment around the Christmas period.

The Fraternexo project in Chambery provided a place to receive refugees, and to accompany them in very ordinary moments of their life - driving lessons, family outings in the mountains, etc.

Awareness raising events took place in a number of forms in 2008: an information sharing evening in a Jesuit college; a conference at the CVX Europe Migration Commission, etc. The strong advocacy link with JRS Europe continued, aiding and developing JRS France’s own advocacy work.

During 2008, the JRS France website was renewed every two months, and a newsletter was periodically produced by the office.

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