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Migration has long been a cause of friction in Franco-Italian
relations, amid a wider political battle within the European
Union on how to respond to people trying to get to the region,
and rising arrivals from North Africa.
The Italian interior ministry declined to comment on the group's
report, called "Denied Passage", while its French counterpart
did not immediately respond to an emailed request from Reuters.
French law enforcement "systematically" sends back to Italy
migrants found to have entered illegally, "often with violence,
inhumane treatment as well as arbitrary detention," MSF said in
the report.
It said migrants are forcibly returned regardless of their
individual circumstances without appropriate assessment, and
"vulnerable people such as minors, pregnant women and new
mothers, elderly or severely ill persons are not exempted from
this practice".
In Ventimiglia, the Italian seaside town just next to the French
border where hundreds, if not thousands, of migrants pass
through every month, most of them sleep in the street or in
makeshift shelters.
"Access to adequate shelter, healthcare, clean water, or
sanitary facilities is extremely limited", MSF said, adding that
only "two out of four promised" government accommodation
facilities for migrants are operational.
MSF runs a mobile clinic in Ventimiglia.
Some migrants have resorted to sleeping in the town's cemetery
and using its water fountains, but Ventimiglia's rightist mayor
Flavio Di Muro this week hired security guards to evict them
from the premises.
(Additional reporting by Ingrid Melander in Paris and Angelo
Amante in Rome; Editing by Frances Kerry)
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