France
In response to the French government’s hardening stance on migration, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) expanded activities to assist migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees across France.
Our activities in 2023
outpatient consultations
individual mental health consultations
Throughout the year, MSF continued to provide general healthcare and psychosocial services to people on the move, with a focus on unaccompanied minors.
In Calais, we started conducting medical and psychological consultations for people living in makeshift camps. In July, we opened a day centre for unaccompanied minors, where we offered medical and psychological support, as well as psychosocial and recreational activities. During the winter months, when northern France was hit by extremely harsh weather, we launched an emergency shelter programme.
In Pantin, on the outskirts of Paris, we provided unaccompanied minors with medical, psychological, social and legal support. We also ran a 20-bed shelter to accommodate minors in particularly vulnerable situations, and offered financial and logistical support to a 10-bed shelter for girls. In addition, we sent mobile teams to ensure access to healthcare for people living on the streets or in unsafe buildings.
In Marseille, we scaled up our assistance to unaccompanied minors. As well as providing multidisciplinary support in our 20-bed shelter, we started conducting medical consultations in squats
and camps.
In light of a controversial new immigration bill that further undermines migrants’ and refugees’ rights in France, we publicly alerted the government and health authorities to the dire consequences that restrictions on access to healthcare have on foreign nationals living in precarious conditions.