Migration
The Migration clinic allows students to participate in the activities of NGOs and other actors supporting migrants in France. With the intensification of conflicts in the Middle East, migrants face an unprecedented crisis in the European Union Member States. As multiple debates and reforms are developing around ideas of better managing “migratory flows” and better fighting against illegal immigration, civil society, NGOs and students seek for solutions to the multiple “border situations” faced by migrants.
The Migration clinic addresses cutting-edge issues related to the situation of migrants in France through a number of projects. It allows students to gain a rich and complex understanding of immigration law through practice. It also aims at developing or consolidating students’ critical thinking in a context in which political, legal and social discourses contribute to the production of an image of migrants as “threats” or as “undesirables”.
Pedagogical team
The Migration clinic programme is taught in French and coordinated by :
- Camille Escullié, lecturer
- Nicolas Hervieu, lecturer
- Bastien Charaudeau, Migrations clinic coordinator and tutor
- Loïc Azoulai, lecturer of the required Migrations clinic
- Claire Bruggiamosca, tutor
- Kristina Ganćarová, tutor
- Thibaut Jaulin, tutor
- Anne-Laure Lacoste, tutor
- Christophe Pouly, tutor
PROJECTS 2022-2023
Projects 1 and 2: Accompanying third parties to the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA)
The reform of asylum law, adopted in July 2015, introduced new procedural guarantees for asylum seekers, including the possibility of being accompanied by a third party to their interviews. To ensure that as many people as possible benefit from this guarantee, the Accueil et Solidarité Group (GAS) and the Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans Center of Paris and Île-de-France (LGBTQI+ Centre) - both authorised by OFPRA - have set up a pool of volunteers so that they can prepare asylum seekers for their interview and accompany them. Project work will consist in preparing asylum seekers for and offering support for their OFPRA interview. Students will be able to co-construct a qualitative report, evaluating interviews in which members of the association will have participated, and present the report’s findings to OFPRA.
- Partenaire : Groupe Accueil and Solidarité et Centre LGBT+
- Tutors : Thibaut Jaulin and Anne-Laure Lacoste
Project 3: Fundamental rights of exiles : from archives to the courtroom
The project builds upon the archives of the association Tous Migrants, based in Briançon (French Alps), which has been working for more than six years to support people crossing the French-Italian border. The student team combines the analysis of administrative and judicial decisions as well as the testimonies of exiles with semi-directive interviews of actors in the field to take stock of the legal dynamics at work in the French Alps. Ultimately, the goal of this work is to offer ways to improve access to justice for people who try to cross the Alpine border.
- Partner : the association Tous migrants
- Tutor : Claire Bruggiamosca and Bastien Charaudeau
Project 4: Asylum and health issues of Georgian nationals
Since 2018, according to OFPRA statistics by country, asylum applications from Georgian nationals have been constantly ranked in the top 10. For most Georgian asylum seekers however, the main motivation is not to obtain asylum. In fact, many of them have serious pathologies that require urgent care and wish to apply for a “étrangère malade” residence permit. Application procedures for this permt are changing but remain unclear. Asylum applications are often the subject of a rejection, followed by an OQTF (order to leave France), and people quickly find themselves without papers and without financial resources while important medical treatments have already began. They turn to associations that no longer know how to help them.
The project is in its third year. During the year 2020-2021, students grasped the problem by defining the most frequent pathologies. In 2021-2022 a research mission to Georgia took place and the team was able to define the overall health system failures in Georgia. This year, students will support the association and lawyers by providing an in-depth analysis of the reasons for the failure of the health system in Georgia as well as considering the administrative and legal legislation and practice in France. Students will work on listing recommendations for authorities and other actors that will improve the administrative application procedure for a " étrangère malade " residence permit, assessment of the availability and accessibility of treatment in Georgia, and the strengthening of international cooperation.
The students will also create a partnership network between actors in France and Georgia. A study trip to Georgia is planned in order to grasp the reality of the context before Georgian nationals leave the country.
- Partner: the association Habitat-Cité
- Tutors: Kristina Gancarova and Christophe Pouly
For more information about the Migration clinic programme in French.
