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France·Human Rights

France passes historic law recognising forced exile of Réunion children

Wednesday, 17 June 2026, 06:42 · 1 min read

The French Parliament unanimously passed a landmark reparations law on 16 June, formally recognising the state's role in forcibly relocating over 2,000 children from Réunion (a French island territory in the Indian Ocean) to rural mainland France between 1962 and 1984. The policy, which officially aimed to ease overcrowding on the island and repopulate depopulated rural areas such as the Creuse département — giving rise to the term "children of the Creuse" — resulted in abrupt separations from families, changes of civil status, and in many cases abuse and lasting psychological trauma. The law entitles surviving victims to a lump-sum financial allocation, with advocates describing the vote as a moment of reconciliation between the affected community and the French state.

Sources
RFIFrance: le Parlement entérine une loi de réparation pour l'exil forcé d'enfants réunionnais entre 1962 et 1984 ↗︎
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