Deported kids fight back

last updated 8 January 2015

Paris

More than a dozen natives of a French Indian Ocean island are suing the French government for resettling them in France. In the 1960s and ’70s, more than 1,500 children, mostly orphans, were moved from the overcrowded island of La Réunion to the underpopulated French province of Creuse. The idea was to provide workers for Creuse and job opportunities for natives. But the children, used to a barefoot existence in a tropical paradise, suffered in the French winters, and most grew depressed. Many were put straight to work on farms and received little education. The government “screwed up very, very badly, and we want them to acknowledge it,” said Simon A-Poi, one of the plaintiffs. His group wants an apology only: The lawsuit asks for just one symbolic euro in damages.