The french-italian border: a border within europe that rejects instead of welcoming

The people who try to cross the Italian-French border are migrants coming from the Mediterranean route and extended families coming from the Balkan route, originally from the Middle East and South Asia.

They are people fleeing from wars, persecutions, conflicts, whose journey can last years. They arrive in Oulx exhausted, showing signs of psychophysical fatigue and, at times, of the violence suffered along the way. Among them, there are unaccompanied minors, pregnant women and very small children on the run since they were born. In 2021 there were about 10,000 transits 800 of which were minor (400 unaccompanied).

What awaits them is the danger of the mountain, with 20-25 kilometres to be covered on foot at night, with unbearable temperatures in winter and ice in spring, and the militarisation of the border with day and night patrols.

Border control policies, intensified in recent years since France suspended the Schengen Agreement, have in fact made this route even more dangerous, forcing people to choose less frequented and more risky routes and to rely, in the worst cases, on traffickers.

The controls and the danger of the mountains do not stop these families to try to cross the border several times.

Like the Iranian family that arrived in Oulx at the beginning of March, fleeing for political reasons after the murder of a son and an uncle. They crossed Turkey, Greece, in the Balkans, in Bosnia, they were rejected a dozen times. They arrived at the French-Italian border after six years of travel ready to attempt the crossing.

“The only fault of these people is that they are children of forgotten wars and persecutions. The current moment, which sees great and just attention being paid to Ukrainian refugees, must not leave all the others who are also fleeing from wars behind.” Piero Gorza, anthropologist and head of MEDU Piemonte

Doctors for Human Rights continues to ask the institutions and all the actors present at the border to intervene so that the human rights of people in transit are respected and their safety and security guaranteed.

The Medu team is present in Oulx with a medical post at the MASSI refuge, and carries out a consistent action of testimony and denunciation (see related project ).