Skip to main content
Unaccompanied minors in Marseille
War in Gaza:: find out how we're responding
Learn more
In France, we work with migrants and refugees, who encounter policies and practices aimed at preventing them from settling or claiming their rights.

Unaccompanied minors are among the most vulnerable, finding themselves confronted by a lack of information, and a maze of administrative bureaucracy. We work in a day centre for unaccompanied minors in Pantin, in the suburbs of Paris, offering respite, medical care and administrative support.

Our teams also run mobile clinics for migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Paris and monitor the situation throughout the country.

Our activities in 2022 in France

Data and information from the International Activity Report 2022

MSF in France in 2022 In France, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs a range of activities to assist refugees and migrants – in particular unaccompanied minors – affected by increasingly dissuasive EU policies.
France IAR map 2022

In cooperation with other organisations, we continued to run a day centre in Pantin, a suburb of Paris, where we provide medical and psychological support, cultural mediation, and legal and social assistance to unaccompanied minors whose applications for protection had been turned down by the authorities.  

We also advocated better access to healthcare, alerting local authorities to the consequences of precarious living conditions on children’s health. Our teams cared for an increasing number of vulnerable unaccompanied girls, some of whom were pregnant, who had been denied assistance by social services and left without any protection.  

We continued to run mobile clinics in the suburbs of the capital to provide medical consultations, cultural mediation and social support to people living in unsafe conditions, including migrants and unaccompanied minors. These clinics worked as a medical and humanitarian surveillance tool in migrant camps, as they facilitated early detection of medical and humanitarian needs, to which we could alert the local health authorities.  

During the winter, we assisted hundreds of unaccompanied minors who were sleeping on the streets. We also provided logistical and financial support to local organisations and agencies who assist minors who are homeless on a daily basis, by distributing tents and relief items, such as blankets and clothing, to help them cope with the cold.  

Another mobile team provided support to unaccompanied minors living in state-provided accommodation, to ensure that they had access to legal information on their appeal procedure and to help with any follow-up. 

In Marseille, we continued to offer multi-disciplinary support to unaccompanied minors with mental and physical vulnerabilities in our 20-bed shelter. We also ran outreach activities and offered logistical and financial support to local organisations working with people in vulnerable circumstances. 

 

in 2022
 
A rubber boat leaving the French coasts to the UK
Refugees, IDPs and people on the move

MSF offers temporary shelter for people stuck in dire conditions in Calais

Press Release 6 Feb 2024
 
Maïté*, 20-year-old woman from Guinea Conakry
Italy

Denied Passage: The struggle of people stranded at the Italian-French border

Report 4 Aug 2023
 
composition of 4 silhoutte images
France

At home: Unaccompanied minors in France

Documentary 23 Jan 2023
 
MSF provides medical assistance in Covid+ centres in Paris and the suburbs
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

MSF supports nursing home staff as urgent appeal for medical personnel in France launched

Project Update 11 Nov 2020
 
MSF provides medical assistance in Covid+ centres in Paris and the suburbs
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

High COVID-19 rates found among people living in extreme hardship in Paris

Press Release 6 Oct 2020
 
MSF intervention in care homes
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

Out of view, but not out of mind: MSF's response to COVID-19 in care homes

Project Update 24 Apr 2020

Contact us

Mobile activities at La Chapelle