The Revers de la Medaille collective, made up of around a hundred associations, presented its final report on November 4, one year to the day after launching its campaign highlighting the risk of exclusion of people in precarious situations during the Paris Olympics. The collective criticized the policy for failing to make the Games truly inclusive.
"The Olympics must agree to transform themselves to live up to their times,” Paul Alauzy, coordinator of health monitoring at Médecins du Monde (MdM) and spokesperson for the Revers de la médaille collective, concluded the organization's final report with these words.
One year after the launch of the awareness campaign on the risk of "social cleansing" ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, member associations conclude on a bitter assessment.
Between April 23, 2023 and September 30, 2024, at least 260 informal living spaces were evicted in the Paris region. Over the same period, at least 19,526 people were evicted from their place of residence, a 33 percent increase compared to 2021-2022 (13,124) and almost similar to 2022-2023 (19,777), Thomas Dufermont, from the National Human Rights Collective Romeurop explained.
Minors were particularly affected, with 4,550 children evicted—three times as many as in 2021-2022. Revers de la Médaille condemned this, highlighting the devastating impact of these evictions on vulnerable populations.
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A questionable 'social legacy'
The associations also criticized President Emmanuel Macron’s rhetoric around the "social legacy" of the Games, calling it a "communication operation." Despite his praise for providing shelter to 256 marginalized individuals, they argued this was only a small fraction of those in need. “We could and should have done so much better,” said Alauzy, echoing concerns that more could have been done, especially if even a small portion of the Olympic budget had been allocated for housing.
Aurélia Huot, from the Paris Solidarity Bar, an organization that allows volunteer lawyers to participate in patrols for people on the streets, feels the same. "If 1 percent of the Olympic budget had been dedicated to accommodation, the 3,500 homeless people counted during the Night of Solidarity could have been housed," she said.
In their report, the associations also denounce the lack of supervision for the evictions of homeless people. "Over the period studied, 66 percent of evictions were not preceded by any social diagnosis," they reported. Similarly, "between April 26, 2023 and September 30, 2024, only 36 percent of evictions from informal living spaces were accompanied by offers of temporary accommodation for residents." These measures are supposed to be systematic since the ministerial directive of January 25, 2018, governing the clearance of "illegal camps and shanty towns."
'Olympic lockdown of the most precarious'
Faced with the increase in expulsions and police checks, many migrants have chosen to hide, often giving up on getting treatment or even feeding themselves.
"We have witnessed an Olympic lockdown of the most precarious," Paul Alauzy of Médecins du Monde, said.
Médecins du Monde adapted its approach during the Games by relocating its care center and setting up health patrols in the north of Paris. However, despite these efforts, many people chose not to seek treatment, Alauzy said.
The dismantling of camps also severely impacted minors, forcing some to seek refuge in dangerous and isolated places like the Tuileries tunnel in central Paris, the collective pointed out.
Mixed results, recommendations
In its final report, Revers de la Médaille highlighted some positive developments, including new shelters for migrant families and unaccompanied minors, as well as the opening of a day center for unaccompanied minors in July. However, the results for displaced individuals were mixed, with 40 percent securing medium- to long-term housing and 45 percent sent to emergency accommodations.
As for people deported from the Paris region, the results are mixed. According to Paul Alauzy, citing figures from the Regional and Interdepartmental Directorate for Accommodation and Housing (Drihl), "40 percent of people sent to SAS obtained a medium-long term accommodation solution, 45 percent were sent to emergency accommodation and the rest left of their own free will or were subject to removal measures."
While the collective announced the end of its actions on Monday (November 4), it made recommendations for future editions of the Games. Consultation with host populations and civil society actors as well as access to free and quality information are part of this. So that "never again will Games be organized without thinking about the care of those who depend on public space to live."
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