{"id":38807,"date":"2026-06-22T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/?p=38807"},"modified":"2026-06-15T16:17:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T14:17:16","slug":"categorisations-migratoires-et-experiences-de-mineurs-non-accompagnes-a-la-majorite-enjeux-et-ambivalences-autour-de-la-categorie-mna-a-geneve-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/?p=38807","title":{"rendered":"Cat\u00e9gorisations migratoires et exp\u00e9riences de \u00ab\u00a0mineurs non accompagn\u00e9s\u00a0\u00bb \u00e0 la majorit\u00e9 : enjeux et ambivalences autour de la cat\u00e9gorie \u00ab\u00a0MNA\u00a0\u00bb \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve\u00a0(Suisse) \/ Migration Categorizations and Experiences of \u201cUnaccompanied Minors\u201d upon Reaching Adulthood: Issues and Ambivalences around the \u201cUAM\u201d Category in Geneva\u00a0(Switzerland)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Author(s): Mohamed-Walid Benyezzar, Sylvia Garcia Delahaye, Th\u00e9og\u00e8ne-Octave Gakuba<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Source: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7202\/1124908ar<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Les cat\u00e9gories administratives et juridiques appliqu\u00e9es aux jeunes migrantis\u00e9s jouent un r\u00f4le d\u00e9terminant dans la d\u00e9finition de leurs droits et la structuration de leurs parcours. Cet article analyse les effets de ces cat\u00e9gories, en particulier celle de \u00ab mineur non accompagn\u00e9 \u00bb (\u00ab MNA \u00bb), dans le contexte suisse, et plus sp\u00e9cifiquement dans le canton de Gen\u00e8ve. Il montre comment les processus de cat\u00e9gorisation, articul\u00e9s \u00e0 des dynamiques de pr\u00e9carisation, d\u2019ill\u00e9galisation et d\u2019exclusion, influencent l\u2019acc\u00e8s aux ressources, fa\u00e7onnent les parcours de vie et g\u00e9n\u00e8rent des formes ambivalentes et provisoires d\u2019inclusion au sein des dispositifs d\u2019accueil. L\u2019analyse repose sur une enqu\u00eate ethnographique conduite entre 2021 et 2024, combinant observations de terrain, entretiens avec des jeunes d\u2019origine maghr\u00e9bine et \u00e9tude de documents juridiques et administratifs. Elle se focalise sur la distinction op\u00e9r\u00e9e localement entre les jeunes enregistr\u00e9s comme \u00ab RMNA \u00bb (requ\u00e9rants d\u2019asile mineurs non accompagn\u00e9s) et ceux reconnus comme \u00ab MNA \u00bb (mineurs non accompagn\u00e9s sans statut l\u00e9gal). Cette diff\u00e9renciation, loin d\u2019\u00eatre anodine, conditionne l\u2019acc\u00e8s aux droits, \u00e0 l\u2019h\u00e9bergement, \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9ducation et au soutien sociosanitaire, produisant ainsi des parcours marqu\u00e9s par de fortes in\u00e9galit\u00e9s. En examinant les logiques institutionnelles \u00e0 l\u2019oeuvre, les usages diff\u00e9renci\u00e9s des cat\u00e9gories et les strat\u00e9gies mises en oeuvre par les jeunes pour s\u2019y conformer, les d\u00e9tourner ou les contester, l\u2019article met en lumi\u00e8re les tensions inh\u00e9rentes aux politiques migratoires genevoises. Celles-ci, tout en se r\u00e9clamant d\u2019une vis\u00e9e protectrice \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9gard des mineurs, participent d\u2019un dispositif plus large de contr\u00f4le, de tri et de gestion diff\u00e9renci\u00e9e des mobilit\u00e9s juv\u00e9niles. L\u2019article interroge enfin les effets subjectivants de ces cat\u00e9gorisations et les formes d\u2019agentivit\u00e9 d\u00e9velopp\u00e9es par les jeunes dans les interstices des institutions. Il plaide pour une relecture critique des cadres normatifs en vigueur et pour l\u2019adoption de politiques plus inclusives, sensibles \u00e0 la diversit\u00e9 des exp\u00e9riences migratoires et aux vuln\u00e9rabilit\u00e9s produites par le syst\u00e8me lui-m\u00eame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mots-cl\u00e9s<\/strong> : mineurs non accompagn\u00e9s, jeunes, migration, cat\u00e9gories migratoires, vuln\u00e9rabilit\u00e9 des mineurs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administrative and legal categories applied to young migrants play a decisive role in defining their rights and shaping their life trajectories. This article examines the effects of such categorizations, particularly that of \u201cunaccompanied minor\u201d (\u201cUAM\u201d), within the Swiss context, with a specific focus on the canton of Geneva. It highlights how categorization processes \u2013 entangled with dynamics of precaritization, illegalization, and exclusion \u2013 influence access to resources, structure life paths, and generate ambivalent and provisional forms of inclusion within reception and support systems. The analysis draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2021 and 2024, combining participant observation, interviews with young people of Maghrebi origin, and the examination of legal and administrative documents. It focuses in particular on the local distinction made between \u201cRMNA\u201d (asylum-seeking unaccompanied minors) and \u201cMNA\u201d (unaccompanied minors without legal status). Far from neutral, this differentiation determines access to rights, housing, education, and socio-health support, and results in deeply unequal trajectories. By analysing the institutional logics at play, the differentiated uses of categories, and the strategies developed by young people to comply with, circumvent, or contest them, the article reveals the tensions embedded in Geneva\u2019s migration policies. While these policies are presented as protective of minors, they are part of a broader apparatus of control, filtering, and differential governance of youth mobilities. Finally, the article explores the subjectifying effects of such categorizations and the forms of agency young people develop within the interstices of institutional structures. It calls for a critical reassessment of existing normative frameworks and advocates for more inclusive policies that are attentive to the diversity of migratory experiences and to the vulnerabilities produced by the system itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keywords<\/strong>: unaccompanied minors, youth, migration, migration categories, minors\u2019 vulnerability <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author(s): Mohamed-Walid Benyezzar, Sylvia Garcia Delahaye, Th\u00e9og\u00e8ne-Octave Gakuba Source: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7202\/1124908ar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24],"tags":[854,7,50,37,52,341,154,303,356,90,91,621,64,144,118],"class_list":["post-38807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-society-family-racism","tag-854","tag-article","tag-asylum-seekers","tag-attitudes-towards-migrants","tag-french-language","tag-geneva","tag-interviews","tag-legal-aspects","tag-migratory-status","tag-reception-policy","tag-social-integration","tag-street-level-bureaucracy","tag-unaccompanied-minors","tag-vulnerability","tag-youth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38807"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38808,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38807\/revisions\/38808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}