5 Afghan families have arrived in Lille, announcement this Thursday morning on France Inter, Martine Aubry, the mayor of Lille: “From the beginning of August, I asked the President of the Republic what France is doing to welcome the Afghans in danger beyond those who have worked for us?”. The elected representative said that she had established a “list of Afghans in great danger, some of whom were the subject of threats and some had already had attacks from which they had fortunately escaped.”
A list also produced thanks to French cultural institutions which had listed artists in danger who have worked abroad or targeted by the Taliban and thanks to two Afghans hosted in Lille 20 years ago and today in Afghanistan and who have worked with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These refugees work in the world of justice, education, health and even the media.
Too much slowness in the process
These 25 refugees carried out PCR tests which were all negative before reaching the North. Their exact identity has not been revealed until then for security reasons. Martine Aubry believes that the government has taken too long to repatriate these refugees:
I regret that it took so long. It took persuasion and a lot of commitment to get these visas.
The elected PS who shares the vision of the Head of State on France’s duty to protect these threatened people but who does not, however, share his little sentence on the risk of a migratory wave: “I agree above all if he had not said that we must protect ourselves against irregular migratory flows.
We are talking about men and women who come under the Geneva Convention, that is to say refugees, they are victims, they risk their lives.
It is normal for the Ministry to check whether these people fall within the scope of these threats, but we could have gone faster. There are still today at the French Embassy men and women who depend on this without anyone being able to protect them.
I was shocked by the President’s comments. We could have anticipated much more.
The mayor of Lille asks Europe to “share this welcome as said Angela Merkel, the only one who saves the honor once again, on these questions”. Other Afghan refugees are expected this Thursday in Lille. Martine Aubry has not given the number for the moment.
–
