Combating racism and anti-Semitism in France

January 2007

France has long had particularly advanced legislation, with protection against all forms of discrimination dating back to the 1789 French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

Institutional mechanism

On 8 December 2003, President Chirac issued a decree creating the French Interministerial Committee to Fight Racism and Anti-Semitism (CILRA) with the brief to define policy guidelines to address these concerns. The Committee oversees the consistency and effectiveness of the different ministries’ action in this area. It decides on an action programme and ensures its implementation. It works in six major areas: Security, Justice, Education, Social Cohesion, Communication and Foreign Affairs. Measures it decided on include development of video surveillance in the areas around the most sensitive buildings, particularly schools and places of worship; and pursuit of the programme to ensure the safety of schools, community premises and places of worship. An Internet contact point has also been set up for people to report illegal messages and behaviour on the web, in the first place those with anti-Semitic or racist content.

The High Authority to Fight Discrimination and Promote Equality (HALDE) was created by the Act of 30 December 2004 and Decree of 4 March 2005 to inform and guide the general public, assist victims of discrimination (and, where necessary, conduct the investigation following an official complaint), and promote and disseminate best practices. It issues opinions, launches awareness programmes and conducts research and studies.

Preventive mechanism

Government preventive action is highlighting common values by:

-  galvanizing the national education system into ending the slide towards sectarianism. Measures already taken include: distribution of the livret républicain, a guide onpreventing andealing with offences against minorities and ethnic communinities, covering a whole series of incidents (wearing of scarves, insults, etc.) and suggesting how institutions can respond to them; establishment of a system allowing anti-Semitic acts to be identified among racist acts, allowing academic authorites to react more rapidly; designation of contacts in each eduction area responsible for advising schoolheads in the event of racist or anti-Semitic incidents to ensure appropriate reactions; and appointment of adults trained to talk to both victims and perpetrators.

-  reaffirming the secular principle;

-  maintaining a high level of vigilance;

-  promoting the French model of integration with the creation of the High Council for Integration;

-  emphasizing the duty to remember.

Non-governmental organizations also play an important role in combating racism and anti-Semitism: Aide à Toute Détresse – Quart Monde (ATD Quart Monde), le Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l’Amitié entre les Peuples (MRAP), la Ligue Internationale Contre le Racisme et l’Antisémitisme (LICRA) and Amnesty International.

Legislative mechanism

French legislation to combat racism and anti-Semitism is made up of a number of Acts:

-  The Act of 29 July 1881 on press freedom (Chapter IV), the first Act to make public discriminatory utterances an offence;

-  The Act of 1 July 1972 on combating racism, under which a number of acts of everyday life were made offences (for example, refusal to provide goods or dismissal for racial reasons);

-  The Act of 13 July 1990 providing for the punishment of all racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic acts with, in particular, the creation of the offence of disputing crimes against humanity;

-  The new Penal Code, which came into force on 1 March 1994, created new offences and stepped up legal measures against racist offences (legal entities may be declared criminally liable);

-  The Act of 3 February 2003 providing for harsher penalties for racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic offences;

-  The Act of 9 March 2004 to bring the justice system into line with the changes in the nature of crime specifies as an aggravating circumstance the case where the offence is “preceded, accompanied or followed by utterances, writings, images, objects or acts” that are racist or anti-Semitic.

The Act provides for different criminal penalties to punish racist offences, including fines, deprivation of civic rights and imprisonment. For example, a racial insult is punishable by a maximum of six months’ imprisonment and/or a maximum fine of €22,500. The refusal to provide goods or services for reasons of national, ethnic, racial or religious discrimination is punishable by a maximum of two years’ imprisonment and a maximum fine of €30,000.

The Act of 21 June 2004 on confidence in the digital economy improves the prevention and enforcement system for material published on the Internet. Internet service providers and hosts are now legally obliged to contribute to the prevention of the dissemination of paedophile, revisionist and racist data (see the report on this Act (in French) by the French Internet Rights Forum).

Some figures

At the 7th meeting of the French Interministerial Committee to Fight Racism and Anti-Semitism held on 30 January 2006, the French Prime Minister presented the figures on the effectiveness of this policy: anti-Semitic acts fell by 47% in 2005 compared with 2004, while other racist and xenophobic acts fell by 22%.

The National Advisory Commission on Human Rights (CCNDH) details these figures in its latest report. It points out that there was a sharp rise in these acts in 2004, which was significantly reduced in 2005 by strong mobilization and public recognition of the problem.

Nevertheless, the CCNDH notes that these figures are still very high compared with the 1995-1999 period.

HALDE’s 2005 Annual Report breaks down the official complaints to it by the various discrimination criteria: the highest percentage (39.6%) was for discrimination on the basis of origin.

To find out more

Documentation

For a Republic Based on Equality / Governement Portal, October 2004.
- http://www.premier-ministre.gouv.fr/

Fight against anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia – Excerpt from the speech given by President Chirac on 22 May 2003.
- http://www.ambafrance-uk.org/

All the information sources below are in French:

Racisme et antisémitisme : une lutte efficace contre l’inacceptable / Portail du Premier Ministre, juillet 2005.
- http://www.premier-ministre.gouv.fr/

Cybercriminalité : la politique du Gouvernement : la lutte contre le racisme et l’antisémitisme sur Internet / Portail de l’Internet, avril 2005.
- http://www.internet.gouv.fr/

Les lois antiracistes : les guides de la Justice / Ministère de la Justice, avril 2003.
- http://www.vie-publique.fr/

Publications

Haute autorité de lutte contre les discriminations et pour l’égalité : rapport annuel, avril 2006.
- http://www.halde.fr/

La lutte contre le racisme, l’antisémitisme et la xénophobie : année 2005 / Commission nationale consultative des droits des l’homme. – La Documentation française, mars 2006.
- http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/

Les moyens de la lutte contre l’expression raciste, antisémite, ou xénophobe sur l’internet : dossier de presse / Forum des droits sur l’internet, juin 2004.
- http://www.foruminternet.org/

Le Comité interministériel de lutte contre le racisme et l’antisémitisme / Service de Presse du Premier Ministre
- http://www.premier-ministre.gouv.fr/

Articles

Les actes racistes et antisémites, aujourd’hui, en France / G. Fellous. – Regards sur l’actualité, n°305, novembre 2004.

Le droit pénal face au racisme / M. Bourrette. – Regards sur l’actualité, n°305, novembre 2004.

La lutte contre les discriminations raciales. – Regards sur l’actualité, n°299, mars 2004.

Last updated: 15.05.2007