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The month of December saw the MP for Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy highlight some of his work at the French National Assembly. On December 6, Frantz Gumbs was in Saint-Barth for a visit by Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin, and spoke to JSB about the highlights of his parliamentary work. Starting with the report of the commission of inquiry into the dysfunctions obstructing access to justice adapted to the needs of overseas citizens. The commission is chaired by Frantz Gumbs, and the report was presented on December 5 by its rapporteur, Guyane MP Davy Rimane.
It took six months to gather the information contained in the report. "We traveled to the French West Indies and French Guiana, and conducted remote interviews for the other territories", explains the deputy. These exchanges enabled him to make one observation: "The further away you are from Paris, which centralizes everything, the greater the gap in equality in the service provided to the public. "Three priorities have been identified to improve access to justice in overseas France.
The first is to offer overseas residents the same standards of justice as in mainland France. This presupposes, first and foremost, that the courts are adequately staffed, as some territories, notably Mayotte and French Guiana, are facing a glaring lack of attractiveness. Proposed solutions include reinforcing mobility contracts, introducing a new bonus, and making overseas assignments more attractive.
The report also points the finger at the shortage of legal professionals. Some territories have no lawyers at all, such as Wallis-et-Futuna and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon," notes Frantz Gumbs. Some regions are landlocked, such as inland French Guiana and Polynesia, and constitute legal deserts. "
Finally, the MP highlights the problem posed by "the cultural distance" between justice personnel and those subject to the law. "The inadequate acculturation of judicial staff to the realities of overseas France, and the lack of representativeness of members of the judicial authority, feed the feeling, among some, of a colonial justice system", the report stresses. To remedy this, the report recommends "better training of judicial personnel in the socio-cultural realities of the territories". But justice and its inequalities are not the only subjects on which Frantz Gumbs has worked.
In particular, Gumbs has been working on a bill to give sickle-cell anemia sufferers better treatment. "All too often, patients' pain is treated without the disease even having been diagnosed," he remarks. Sickle cell disease is one of the most widespread genetic blood disorders in the world. "It is particularly prevalent in the French Overseas Territories, since it mainly affects Afrodescendants", Frantz Gumbs points out. The bill calls for improved care for patients, particularly in terms of their accompaniment to and during treatment, which can be lengthy and can sometimes only be carried out in certain Parisian establishments.
The MP also examined the "parcours sup" scheme. Through hearings with trade unions, psychologists, student associations, etc. "What emerges is that, in public opinion, the 'parcours sup' has a negative reputation," notes Frantz Gumbs. However, it's not the tool that's blamed, but the lack of support. "
A member of the Les Démocrates group in the French National Assembly, the representative of Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy operates in a highly divided hemicycle. "We need the republican forces to pull together," he repeats, while noting a new democratic exercise. Today, we talk to each other at the foot of the podium during recesses," he says with astonishment. That wasn't the case before. It requires a lot of presence, because every vote counts in these circumstances. Parliament is learning, and this is a historic moment. "
