Pave: Pas d'angélisme facile

Le jour 409 de Sarko

Cet incident dramatique donne de la France, patrie des droits de l'homme, une image honteuse...

[This dramatic incident gives France, the fatherland of the rights of man, a shameful image...]

Le Monde,
editorial commenting on the second burning "drama"
this year at the government's Vincennes deportation camp
(infra)

"HELL' OF FRENCH DETENTION CENTER
SPARKS DEPORTATION PROTESTS

PARIS June 27, 2008 (Bloomberg) - Immigrants awaiting deportation burned down the center in Vincennes on June 22 after a two-day riot following the death of a 41-year-old Tunisian detainee. The flames reignited debate over government targets for the number of undocumented foreigners expelled each year and the conditions in which they're held.

... The Tunisian detainee died of a heart attack, police said.

... The fire was the second major blaze at Vincennes in a year, according to Cimade.

Suicides, self-mutilations, fights and hunger strikes are common at France's 31 detention centers, where foreigners are held while authorities decide if they are to be deported, Cimade said. An inmate committed suicide at a center near Marseille in December 2006, another in June 2007 near Bordeaux.

... A 2005 government decree set a maximum capacity of 140 inmates per detention center. The Vincennes center had 250, skirting the limit by officially splitting the camp into two separate units under the same management, according to Cimade.

... Questioned in Parliament this week, [Brice Hortefeux, minister for immigration] said detention centers in France -- compared with those elsewhere in Europe -- are better than most.

Better than most is good enough for une nation qui rayonne dans le monde.

Le Monde chided him for failing to address the treatment of immigrants awaiting a decision on their fate. Le Monde editorial:

[No airy idealism:] No responsible government can be inactive faced with illegal immigration. But rather than rejoicing in the success of his policy of hitting targets, Brice Hortefeux should demand an audit of the detention centers in France and take humane measures to avoid a repetition of this drama.

[Pas d'angélisme facile : aucun gouvernement responsable ne peut rester sans rien faire devant le flux de l'immigration illégale. Mais plutôt que de se réjouir benoîtement des succès de sa politique du chiffre, Brice Hortefeux, le ministre de l'immigration, devrait demander un audit des 22 CRA existants et prendre, avec humanité, les mesures nécessaires pour éviter la répétition d'un tel drame.]

While the outraged consciences of France persist in filing failed indictments against Donald Rumsfeld (and here), the enormities of French detention continue year to year, excused as "better than most", the French standard of French moral excellence.

PFFT (What is this?): Image problem 2 | Humanitarian problem 5 | Moral excellence 0 | Rayonnement français 0 (There is no lower rating.)