Cédric H. and another · Decision 2018-717/718 QPC
Conseil constitutionnel · 6 July 2018
Criminal proceedings prompted two challenges to French rules on helping a person whose immigration status was irregular. The law allowed exemptions for some assistance with staying in France. Someone giving a vulnerable person a lift within the country could still face prosecution even where that journey was part of the same humanitarian help.
Why the distinction mattered
The Constitutional Council derived a freedom to give humanitarian assistance from the principle of fraternity. It found the exclusion of travel incidental to a person’s stay too broad. It deferred repeal of the defective wording and gave an interim interpretation protecting such humanitarian assistance. The judges drew a separate line around facilitating irregular entry, recognising the state’s interest in controlling its borders.
Which journey and which assistance?
Giving someone shelter, driving them from one town to another and helping them cross a border are legally distinct events. Record where the journey began and ended, its purpose and whether any payment or benefit changed hands. This constitutional review concerned the scope of criminal provisions then in force. It did not grant blanket immunity or itself determine the outcome of either applicant’s criminal case.
Read the Constitutional Council decision
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