Anafé defends the rights of foreign nationals in difficulty at France’s borders through two interdependent dimensions : operational and political. Each informs and strengthens the other.
Operational Dimension
Thanks to a network of volunteers and professionals, Anafé maintains a regular presence in the field, providing legal assistance and acting as an observatory of administrative practices at borders.
Legal Assistance
Legal Support Services
Anafé organizes both in-person and phone-based legal support sessions. These are conducted by volunteer pairs and supported by volunteer interpreters. The main mission of these volunteers is to inform foreign nationals about procedures and their rights, and to assist them with administrative and legal steps whenever possible.
Phone-based legal support has been offered since 2000, several times a week, to advise individuals deprived of liberty in waiting zones.
In-person legal support takes place in the Roissy waiting zone once or several times a week, following a free-access agreement signed with the Ministry of the Interior in 2004.
👉 For more information about the ZAPI agreement, see the page “The Right of Oversight for Associations.”
Preparation and Support for OFPRA Interviews
Anafé informs and supports asylum seekers detained in waiting zones. It prepares them for their interview with OFPRA and, since 2015, accompanies them during the interview upon request.
Support and Information at Internal Land Borders
As part of its work at internal land borders (especially at the Franco-Italian and Franco-Spanish borders), Anafé assists and informs individuals in difficulty or their relatives—either directly or by supporting and advising local actors. It also provides assistance to individuals who have been turned away.
Monitoring and Observation
Visits to Waiting Zones
Anafé regularly conducts visits to waiting zones to gather information on detention conditions, applicable procedures, and border refusals. The main goal is to expose dysfunctions in these areas and advocate for legal and procedural improvements.
👉 For more information on waiting zone visits, see the article “The Right of Oversight for Associations.”
Observations at Internal Borders
Anafé monitors practices that violate the rights of foreign nationals at the Franco-Italian border (since 2017) and the Franco-Spanish border (since 2019). These observation missions and testimony collection efforts are often organized in collaboration with local and national organizations active at these borders. Their goal is to expose illegal administrative practices related to identity checks, procedures, detention, and deportation.
Court Hearing Observations
Anafé’s volunteers attend judicial hearings concerning the conditions of detention for individuals held in waiting zones, as well as administrative court hearings, which often focus on asylum procedures. These observations aim to assess how hearings are conducted, analyze legal arguments, and observe how foreign nationals are treated by the justice system.
Exploratory Missions
Anafé conducts exploratory missions and field investigations in countries of deportation (e.g., Haiti and Tunisia in 2011; Lebanon and Morocco in 2012; Guinea Conakry in 2013; Lebanon in 2014; Morocco in 2015) and in border areas (e.g., Mayotte and Réunion in 2016; the UK in 2017; the Franco-Italian border in 2017; and the Franco-Spanish border in 2019 and 2021). These missions aim to : observe administrative practices, gather information from local actors, address issues related to minors, assess access to asylum procedures, evaluate access to justice and legal assistance and conduct training sessions in partnership with local lawyers, associations, and volunteers.
Individual follow-ups
Follow-up of deported individuals
Anafé monitors individuals who have been deported after being held in waiting zones to gain a comprehensive understanding of deportation conditions and their consequences. Since 2007, this project has evolved through partnerships with civil society organizations in countries of deportation and through exploratory missions.
Anafé also meets with individuals who have been deported by French authorities at internal land borders, including in Italy and Spain.
Follow-up of individuals held in police custody
Anafé contacts individuals who have been placed in police custody after leaving a waiting zone. In recent years, both at Roissy and in other regions, the number of such cases has significantly increased.
Follow-up of victims of violence
Anafé provides support to individuals who have experienced police violence during their detention in waiting zones. This includes collecting testimonies, offering moral support, informing them about complaint and reporting procedures, and assisting them throughout these processes.
Follow-up of deceased and missing persons
Due to increased border controls, migrants are forced to take greater risks, sometimes leading to tragic outcomes. When alerted to cases of death or disappearance, Anafé undertakes specific follow-up missions, particularly at the Franco-Italian and Franco-Spanish borders.
Political Dimension
From a political standpoint, Anafé seeks to drive lasting changes in legislation and in administrative and judicial practices. This is achieved through analysis, advocacy, strategic litigation, and the organization of campaigns and mobilizations.
Advocacy
Advocacy is one of Anafé’s core missions, aimed at influencing policies and practices regarding the treatment of foreign nationals at France’s external and internal borders.
Anafé collects data, testimonies, and observations to produce reports, analytical documents, and briefing notes that support the work of elected officials and independent administrative authorities.
It also submits formal complaints and reports to responsible authorities (border police, Ministry of the Interior, OFPRA, etc.) and to national, European, and international human rights bodies (UNHCR, Controller-General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty, Defender of Rights, National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, etc.).
Advocacy also involves maintaining regular contact with national and European parliamentarians and organizing visits by elected officials to waiting zones.
Strategic Litigation
Strategic litigation is a key action for Anafé. It aims to change legislation and influence case law related to waiting zones and border practices, in order to better guarantee the rights of foreign nationals.
Awareness-Raising
Anafé also works to raise public awareness about these invisible places of detention—whether in waiting zones or at internal land borders. To do so, it modernizes its communication tools and organizes public events and interventions.
Mobilizations
Against pressure on solidarity actors
Anafé mobilizes in support of human rights defenders who are prosecuted for their actions in defense of exiled individuals.
Against restrictions on freedom of association
In recent years, French legislation has introduced mechanisms that restrict freedom of association, including facilitating the dissolution of associations, holding them accountable for the actions of their staff and volunteers, and applying financial pressure to limit their activities. Anafé participates in inter-associative actions to raise awareness about these threats and the criminalization of solidarity.
Against the rise of the far right and the criminalization of migration
In response to the rise of far-right ideologies, stigmatization, and the criminalization of migration, Anafé mobilizes with its partner organizations to challenge these narratives and propose alternative approaches to migration policy.
Campaigns
Close the waiting zones
Launched on November 22, 2021, Anafé’s campaign “Close the waiting zones” mobilized intense action over one year against administrative detention at borders. Anafé carried out a range of activities including litigation, advocacy, awareness-raising, and communication to denounce the dramatic consequences of detention practices.
Key events included : publication of an op-ed calling for the closure of waiting zones, parliamentary visits to these zones, engagement with presidential and legislative candidates and open letters and conferences highlighting human rights violations linked to detention
In 2022, Anafé continued the “Close the waiting zones” campaign to advance its demands against administrative detention of foreign nationals at borders.
You hold the key!
Between 2013 and 2018, the number of children detained at borders increased fivefold. Since 2012, following the first of nine convictions of France by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the administration has detained over 30,000 children.
In 2019, Anafé joined forces with UNICEF France and 17 other organizations to campaign for an end to child detention. Their actions included contributing to the creation of a parliamentary working group on child detention, publishing an open letter and a petition, visiting detention centers and waiting zones, and calling on responsible authorities.
This campaign led to the abolition of detention for children accompanied by their families in administrative detention centers (with deferred application in Mayotte until 2027). The mobilization continues to end child detention in waiting zones.
Inter-Associative Work
To share knowledge, coordinate mobilizations, and strengthen its actions on border detention and deportation, Anafé is part of several formal and informal inter-associative networks. These include:
Migreurop
Migreurop is a Euro-African network composed of around 40 organizations and dozens of individual members across 18 countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Bringing together activists and researchers, the network aims to expose European migration policies and their impacts. Migreurop focuses on two main areas: detention and externalization. It documents, analyzes, and denounces the consequences of Euro-African migration policies and human rights violations against exiled individuals. Anafé actively participates in Migreurop’s actions and national/international meetings.
Observatory of the Detention of Foreigners (OEE)
Created in 2010 by thirteen French organizations, including Anafé, the OEE is an informal structure responding to the increasingly systematic use of detention for foreigners in France.
Its key demands include:
- Ending administrative detention altogether
- Closing all administrative detention facilities for foreigners
- Denouncing discriminatory criminal treatment of foreigners
- Challenging their overrepresentation in detention
- Advocating for the abolition of double punishment
- Exposing detention as a tool of migration criminalization
- Fighting racism and institutional violence in places of deprivation of liberty
To achieve these goals, the OEE organizes public information sessions, publishes reports, press releases, and open letters. Anafé contributes by participating in meetings and producing analytical notes.
International Center for Popular Culture (CICP)
The CICP is both a collective of associations and an organization supported by its members and allies. It hosts over 80 international solidarity associations, with around 30 having office space—including Anafé. Anafé takes part in CICP’s meetings and joint actions, such as the Festival of Solidarity and the Anti-Colonial and Anti-Racist Week.
De Quel Droit
The website De Quel Droit is a free legal resource aimed at improving access to rights for foreigners in France. It provides jurisprudence and legal information for lawyers, legal professionals, social workers, volunteers, and affected individuals. Founded in 2021, Anafé is a member of this initiative
