The bill on immigration arrives this Monday in the Assembly chamber… In Côte d’Ivoire, what do we think of this text which aims to “control immigration and improve integration”? Our correspondent in Abidjan went to meet young Ivorians who had studied in France. Everyone says they are appalled by this very controversial bill.
“ It’s an unjust law. It toughens the living conditions of immigrants, even though it is supposed to be the country of human rights. I find it a shame, really a shame that it’s come to this », confides Martial to Marine Jeannin for RFI. Like him, former students of French schools are dismayed by this immigration bill, which would drastically limit access to social benefits.
Aurore graduated from a French business and marketing school: “ I was a student in Paris. I worked, I contributed, I was deducted from my salary. And ultimately, this is something that will not be returned. We have to start respecting humans. It’s easy to respect, to take things, but afterwards, it has to make sense. I found it super unfair to say to myself “You contributed there, in this country, and it was for nothing”. »
Another very controversial point: the questioning of land law and, more generally, the tightening of access to nationality. An unfair measure, according to Laurène, a Franco-Ivorian student lawyer, but also counterproductive: “ There are also many foreign students who are needed in France, and who need to be naturalized French or to at least have access to naturalization facilitated at a given point in their professional career, because there are many foreign doctors. Teachers too, engineers… »
According to the European agency Frontex, Côte d’Ivoire is the second country supplying illegal migrants to Europe. A figure disputed by the Ivorian authorities. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recorded, for its part, 143,000 Ivorian emigrants residing in France in 2020. Nearly 40% of Ivorian emigrants living in OECD countries have a high level of education.