purgatory in Paris TWO REFUGEES’ TORTUROUS SEARCH FOR ASYLUM. BY SHADI AYOUBI ILLUSTRATIONS BY SOPHIA FOERSTER
A
t 8:30 a.m. on October 12, 2018, a queue was beginning to form in front of the big sturdy door of 82 Avenue Denfert-Rochereau, where the reception center is located. The line quickly comprised about 250 men. Sihame Amar, the chief services officer, decides who are the most eligible ones to enter and determines how many migrants can be hosted per day. The policy is first come first serve. Many are not accepted because of limited space. There were approximately 300,000 refugees in France in 2016 according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Around one fifth of those were asylum seekers. Agence France Presse recorded a total of 97,300 people who were granted asylum in 2016, 35.1 percent more than the previous year. The acceptance rate is 28.8 percent, with 93.8 percent acceptance for Syrians and 80.6 percent acceptance for Afghans, according to the Office Français de Protection des Réfugiés et Apatrides. The Paris agglomeration is the biggest concentration point for migrants in France. From Monday to Friday, a usual day for migrants at the Grands Voisins cultural center begins with a shower, then collecting their clothes to be washed by the laundry staff, playing ping pong and having lunch on the house. The purpose of the place is to
46
provide basic daily needs for them, as well as medical care and information concerning their rights. Les Grands Voisins, an initiative run by the charitable association Aurore, began on the premises of about 20,000 square meters of buildings and 15,000 square meters of open-air space in the 14th district of Paris. Between 2015 and 2017, they consistently hosted at least 600 migrants a night. Between 2018 and 2020, about less than half of the space is available; only about 100 people are hosted a night. Les Grands Voisins began due to a mayoral decision to remove asbestos from the walls of the SaintVincent-de-Paul hospital, after scientists discovered that inhaling its fibers over a long period of time produces scarring (fibrosis) of the lung. Simon Laisney, the founder of Les Grands Voisins helped finance the project by having several events a month, a bar open seven days a week, monthly flea markets, along with government subsidies. In March of 2018, a nuns’ residence building next to the complex was also made available after they were vacated and the town hall took the decision to allow Aurore to take over the premises for humanitarian services. They decided to make it a day reception center. Since the opening, more than 7,800 migrants, mainly from Afghanistan and Sudan, have been taken care of. The Dublin Regulation has been problematic for
