In light of the 2017 presidential elections: French Migrants’ voices matter !

The Forum of International Solidarity Organizations from Migration [FORIM],

French platform of international solidarity organizations from immigrants wants to challenge the candidates in the presidential elections and influence their positions on immigration policies and public aid to development and international solidarity. These positions have been forged through the conduct of flagship actions carried out in recent years, notably with the animation of the national co-development caravan  on the theme of Living Together, it is being built and launched as a campaign of Mobilization aimed at deconstructing myths about the links between migration and development. In addition, at the institutional level, FORIM co-chaired, with Force Ouvrière, the Migration and Development Working Group of the National Council for Development and International Solidarity (CNDSI), and wished to bring the multi-collegian recommendations that Were formulated in its report published in June 2016.

More than 5.6% of French residents have emigrated from non-European countries. Most of them maintain sustained socio-economic links with their territories of origin, while participating in French fate and purpose. Immigration is thus a vector of development, of the territories of departure, as territories of reception. The Migration-Development dialectic is considerably influenced by the social environment and the coherence of local, national and transnational political orientations. From the crisis of the migrants to the theories of the great replacement, from the fixation of the populations to the fight against the radicalization, force is to realize that a collective and incantatory imagination has been gradually forged in the public opinion on the articulation Between migration and development, fueled notably by a part of the political body and the media according to simplistic positioning and demagogues.

At the national level, immigration would cost France dearly, weaken its national identity and its internal security, in particular being a vector of terrorism; At the international level to develop the countries of origin would allow to fix the candidates at the start and to limit the radicalization, etc. The recent legislative debate initiated by the executive concerning the desirability of dethroning bi-nationals of French nationality in the event of a serious attack on the life of the nation is a symbolic symptom that has been shown by the highest level of The state, the lack of serenity and clairvoyance on the subject: we deplore this loss of time and energy !

Because we belong to at least two living spaces, our proposals concern both domestic and foreign policy. In this sense, the recent adoption of the Sustainable Development Objectives confirms the need to think of solidarity and citizenship in a global and transnational way, as we have long been in our respective associations. More than major reforms, we believe that some simple but nonetheless priority measures will help to strengthen positive links between migration and development for a peaceful, more sustainable and inclusive society here and there.