The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum: A Step Forward or A Setback for the Fundamental Rights of Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence?
(c) Mizore Photography
Valentine Pasquesoone is a French reporter covering international stories for franceinfo.fr, the news website of the public broadcasting company France Télévisions and of the national public radio France Info. Valentine writes news stories, analyses, indepth features and investigations for franceinfo. She is particularly interested in European and U.S. news, and in the coverage of migration, human rights and inequality stories. Her work has taken her to several European countries, to the U.S., Mexico and Brazil. She has reported on border areas, on refugees seeking safety in Europe, but also on undocumented communities and separated migrant families in the U.S. A graduate of Sciences Po Lille, Valentine is a Fulbright alumna and holds dual degrees in journalism from Columbia and Sciences Po journalism schools. She is an adjunct lecturer and academic advisor at Sciences Po journalism school, and has taught journalism classes at the Lille School of Journalism, The American University of Paris and Paris 8 University. She was selected to attend the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma Reporting Institute on Childhood and Forced Migration in Europe. Valentine has also attended the Odysseus Network Summer School on EU Migration and Asylum Law and Policy.
The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum: A Step Forward or A Setback for the Fundamental Rights of Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence?
This research aims to evaluate the impact of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum on fundamental rights for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. At a critical time — the first year of the Pact’s implementation across member states — this project will assess what this new legislative framework implies for survivors’ rights to asylum and to health care. Will the Pact’s measures and practices reinforce or conflict with articles 18 and 35 of the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights? Survivors of sexual and gender-based violence are at the forefront of this new framework, given the prevalence of such crimes along the migratory route. It is estimated that 90 percent of migrant women and girls have been raped during their journey from Northern Africa to Italy, UN Women says. New EU rules guarantee "more attention" to fundamental rights compliance and vulnerable people, promising better monitoring of their rights and needs. Health and vulnerability checks could enhance survivors’ rights to care and asylum, yet shorter timelines in screening, border and asylum procedures could also jeopardize them. It will be essential, as well, to evaluate respect for fundamental rights in the facilities receiving survivors through these procedures.
