Mayotte: MPs approve measure to facilitate destruction of shanty towns

On Wednesday, June 25, members of parliament approved a measure aimed at facilitating evictions and the destruction of shantytowns in Mayotte, during the examination of the government's bill to "rebuild" the department.

This measure allows the state to order, under certain conditions, the demolition of an informal settlement within 24 hours when its construction was noted less than seven days ago, compared to four days currently. Above all, it removes the obligation to offer rehousing or emergency accommodation to displaced persons, a measure particularly criticized by the left.

"The expansion of shanty towns is one of the scourges that Mayotte suffers from. Rebuilding, constructing, and rebuilding Mayotte requires a strong response against the development of illegal housing," defended the Minister for Overseas Territories, Manuel Valls .

For RN MP Yoann Gillet, who supports this provision, shantytowns "are sources of insecurity and disease" and it is "not acceptable" to allow people to live in such conditions in France. But the measure angers the left-wing of the chamber, as well as a handful of MPs from the central bloc, who tried to abolish it, without success.

The inhabitants of the destroyed shanty towns "will be outside, under the tropical rains," denounced MP Jean-Paul Lecoq (Communist group). "We will forbid them from putting a sheet of metal on four piles because we will call that a shanty town."

"We're going to order these people to evacuate, but to where? And to do what? Damn, be a little human," said Green Party MP and former minister Dominique Voynet. Two MPs from the central bloc also defended amendments to remove the measure. "I cannot accept that we put even more children on the streets in Mayotte," said MP Béatrice Piron (Horizons). This "phenomenon of children on the streets" would be aggravated, added Nicole Dubré-Chirat (Renaissance).

Earlier, MPs reinstated a measure, removed by the left in committee, preventing people in an irregular situation in Mayotte from transferring funds via services such as Western Union. According to the text's general rapporteur, Philippe Vigier (MoDem), the measure helps "fight against illicit money that feeds the networks" of people smugglers and "slum landlords."

But for environmentalist Léa Balage El Mariky, this measure will mainly prevent immigrants in Mayotte from being able to transfer funds "to their families back home." The bill is due to resume consideration on Friday.