that these practices are in general use (the same practices were noted during the inspection of
Roissy Airport43), they are at least in partial use. In any case, at best, it appears that practices often
vary according to the official. The second assertion, for its part, is also unverifiable, since there
are no documents, signed in the presence of the parties involved, making it possible to retrace
foreigners’ brief stays in the airport, from hour to hour, between their arrival and departure.
Although there are registers, they are far from being accurately kept: in particular, with regard to
the time of departure which, when shown, is not accompanied with the foreigner’s signature. As
a result, the facts cannot be established.
Finally, with regard to luggage, on several occasions the foreigners questioned
contradicted the information given by the police, pointing out that their luggage only reached
them after the decision to place them in the waiting zone had been taken. If this is a true
indication, the police presumably keep the luggage for as long as there is a chance of being able
to quickly remove persons refused entry.
Everything seems to indicate a variety of practices, some of which may be
highly expeditious. In any case, the effectiveness of the acknowledged rights
belonging to foreigners arriving at the border without the required
documents (right to apply for asylum, possibility of being notified of refusal
of entry, as well as the rights accompanying such refusal, in a language that
they understand, possibility of notifying a certain number of people in
France, right to the benefit of a clear day) makes it necessary to ensure that
respect for these rights is verifiable.
It is therefore demanded that the stages of completion of the procedure, or least the parts
thereof that guarantee effective application of the above-mentioned rights, should be noted down
in the presence of the parties involved44. Such is not currently the case: in one (major) airport, the
inspectors ascertained the absence of any directive on the part of the senior management with
regard to the application of the clear day and the deadline within which foreigners refused entry
may be “immediately” removed.
We therefore recommended that a register, comparable to that provided for
in waiting areas strictly speaking and mentioned under article L. 221-3 of the
CESEDA, should be instituted in the police stations making it possible to
retrace the whole of the operations carried out there.
2.1.2.2.2 Facilities
It will easily be admitted that there is no airport on French territory that is designed for holding
people against their will; and the same applies to ports and railway stations. Transport
infrastructures of this kind are by nature places that people pass through quickly, otherwise, in
cases where people do stay in them (in transit for example), they are equipped with some facilities
to ensure that the experience of spending time in them is pleasant. As a result, the premises used
are structurally unsuitable for the deprivation of liberty and dependent upon the good will of the
manager of the airport, which is the owner of the premises, whose enthusiasm for
accommodating foreigners refused entry to the country is not always readily apparent.
Unsuitability of Facilities.
Foreigners refused entry, when not confined to a “wing” with a view to their immediate
departure, are either housed in narrow rooms, equipped in any manner possible within the
premises: such is the case in particular in airports of modest or medium dimensions; at LyonSaint Exupéry Airport there are two rooms containing bunk beds – two in the first, which
43
44
Cf. the aforementioned report of the contrôle général , in particular pages 7 (for the interpreter), 9, 15 and 38.
Cf. access to defence rights and access to medical treatment in detention in sections 4 and 5 of this report.
27
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