France: curbs unlawful (1)
01 January 1991
France: curbs unlawful
artdoc August=1993
The French Constitutional Court has rejected or amended eight of
the 53 articles in the new immigration Act just passed by the
parliament, and means that new legislation will have to be
presented on some of the areas covered (see Statewatch, vol 3 no
3). The measures opposed by the Court included a measure which
would have allowed mayors to refuse weddings between foreigners
and French citizens if they suspected they were marriages of
convenience with the aim of obtaining residence papers. The Court
declared illegal provisions to ban foreign students from bringing
their wives and children into France, the proposal to introduce
a one year ban on expelled foreigners (which it said was contrary
to the UN Declaration on Human Rights), and the abolition of the
right of appeal for asylum-seekers whose applications had been
turned down. It also warned against the abuse of random identity
checks, and said that foreign residents had the same rights as
French people under the constitution (which will stop moves to
deprive some foreigners and political refugees of social
security), and the increase in detention from 7 to 10 days for
foreigners subject to an expulsion order.
Charles Pasqua, the French Interior Minister, who has called
for `zero immigration' was especially angry at the Court's
opposition to giving senior civil servants the power to block
applications for political refugees. This is the second major
issue on which the Constitutional Court has overruled the
policies of Mr Pasqua. In July the Court ruled that the
government had to abide by the Schengen Agreement (between nine
EC states) because international treaties took precedence over
national laws.
Andr Nkala, an Angolan resident in Paris, fled a police
identity check and drowned when he threw himself into the river
Seine. The police said that officers had stopped him and a
companion for `bizarre behaviour'. When stopped Nkala produced
a photocopy of his papers but the officers said he had to come
to the police station for further questioning.
Guardian 16.8.93; Independent 16.8.93; European, 19.8.93.
Statewatch vol 3 no 4 July-August 1993