Claire Hédon is leaving the Defender of Rights after a term marked by the Overseas Territories

After six years at the helm of the Defender of Rights, Claire Hédon is leaving her post, leaving behind an institution facing a continuous increase in cases and persistent difficulties in accessing public services. Appointed in 2020, she made the overseas territories one of the main focuses of her work, believing that the disparities observed with mainland France stemmed primarily from a question of equality before the law and respect for fundamental rights.

During its term, the institution saw a significant increase in the number of complaints it received, particularly concerning relations with government agencies. In the French overseas territories, several thousand cases were registered, with a high concentration in Mayotte, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion, and Martinique. Difficulties accessing water, healthcare, education, and public services were central to its various reports.

Mayotte became Claire Hédon's primary focus. She intervened there on several occasions to denounce the consequences of water shortages, difficulties accessing healthcare, schooling conditions, and the impact of anti-illegal immigration operations on the rights of those affected. She regularly reiterated that security imperatives should not lead to questioning the guarantees provided by the rule of law.

The Defender of Rights also addressed several emblematic cases affecting France's overseas territories, including chlordecone pollution in the French West Indies, delays in pension payments, massive sargassum seaweed strandings, mercury pollution in French Guiana, and the consequences of the digitalization of administrative procedures. She also made child protection a major focus of her mandate, believing that the shortcomings stemmed more from a lack of resources than from a legal vacuum.

While its recommendations regularly fueled parliamentary debates and litigation before administrative courts, Claire Hédon herself highlighted the limitations of her institution, which lacked binding power. Her successor will inherit a considerable task, in a context where inequalities in access to rights remain particularly pronounced in several overseas territories despite the numerous warnings issued over the past six years.