French Fraternity and Migrants

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/opinion/french-fraternity-and-migrants.html

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France’s national motto is “Liberty, equality, fraternity.” But the depth of its commitment to fraternity is being tested by activists who say they cannot, as French citizens of good conscience, stand by while the state fails in its humanitarian duty toward African migrants who are stranded on the border with Italy, or lost along French roadsides, tired, hungry, thirsty and cold.

It is illegal under French law to help illegal migrants enter France, travel in France or stay in France. But a 2013 law allows aid to illegal migrants if the aid is given freely — a caveat aimed against profiteering from human trafficking — and if the aid is necessary to protect their “dignity and physical integrity.” This month, a court in Nice acquitted Pierre-Alain Mannoni, a university researcher charged with illegally transporting three Eritrean migrant women, on these grounds. Mr. Mannoni swore he was “not a smuggler.” He said he had acted to protect the migrants’ dignity, explaining that it “was very cold” and that they were young, perhaps minors, and “needed medical care.”

The case against Cédric Herrou, also heard in Nice this month, is stickier. Mr. Herrou is an unapologetic serial violator of France’s laws prohibiting aid to illegal migrants. An olive farmer in a mountain valley near the Italian border where Jews found refuge during World War II, Mr. Herrou admits to searching out needy illegal migrants across the border and sheltering them in France. “There are people dying on the side of the road. It’s not right,” he told the three-judge panel hearing his case. For Mr. Herrou, helping those in need is part of what it means to be French. “I am a Frenchman,” he declared.

Even though Mr. Herrou could face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 30,000 euros, the prosecutor has asked for an eight-month suspended sentence. A judgment is expected on Feb. 10. A light sentence would send a welcome signal that fraternity is, indeed, a French value that deserves to be defended. The French, who will vote in April on a new president, are understandably spooked by terrorism. And many fear that if the state takes care of migrants, it will have to reduce benefits for citizens. The right-wing candidates Marine Le Pen and François Fillon are pledging to tighten the borders and clamp down even harder on migration.

Unicef reports that nearly a third of the more than 181,000 migrants who arrived in Italy last year were minors, and over 90 percent were unaccompanied. Many, like those helped by Mr. Mannoni and Mr. Herrou, headed to other countries. A handful of citizens moved by basic humanity have risked being found guilty of defying national laws to help them. But these individual acts of compassion are no substitute for Europewide policies that would create safe and legal paths for desperate people.