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DISCRIMINATION

French PM unveils four year plan to counter racism and anti-semitism

On Monday, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced the French government's plan to tackle racism, antisemitism and other forms of prejudice. Here's what it says.

Published: 30 January 2023 17:27 CET

French PM unveils four year plan to counter racism and anti-semitism

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne presents the National Plan against racism, anti-semitism and ethnic discrimination for the 2023-2026 period (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)

French prime minister Elisabeth Borne presented the details of the government’s four-year plan to tackle racism, antisemitism and anti-Romani prejudice, which she and Minister for Gender Equality and Equal Opportunities, Isabelle Lonvis-Rome, produced together.

The plan contains over 80 measures that were decided upon by a team of 12 ministers, after consultation with at least 35 associations.

EN DIRECT I Présentation par la Première ministre @Elisabeth_Borne et les membres du @GouvernementFR du plan national de lutte contre le racisme, l’antisémitisme et les discriminations liées à l’origine. https://t.co/rmuoGYuNCV

— Gouvernement (@gouvernementFR) January 30, 2023

According to data from the French government, at least 1.2 million people suffer from discrimination of a racist or anti-Semitic nature each year in France.

The actions outlined will span from 2023 to 2026 and they focus on a few specific areas: better education to help fight against discrimination, stronger sanctions for perpetrators, and more tools to help those who have been victim of racist or anti-Semitic discrimination.

Education

The education and training component of the plan applies to both students and teachers. For pupils – the plan will require that each French student visit a historical or memorial site related to racism, antisemitism or anti-Romani prejudice at some point in their scholastic career. An example of this might be the Holocaust (Shoah) memorial in Paris.

The government will also facilitate more travelling exhibitions to provide greater access for students and schools in areas with few memorial sites. Additionally, the plan will encourage students to use the “Culture Pass” to visit such locations.

Public officials for their part will also begin learning about discrimination in France. Training seminars for all civil servants will be carried out in phases until 2026.

Borne also highlighted the importance of this instruction prior to the start of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Every volunteer and “sports educator” who will participate in the Olympic games – particularly those who will come in contact with minors – will benefit from a dedicated training to help spot and avoid discrimination.

The plan also stipulates that French school teachers and staff should participate in mandatory training programmes every five years to help train them to better respond to situations of racism or discrimination.

Measuring discrimination

While the plan does not contain any measures related to the collection of statistics on race, the French government does hope to begin using blind tests to determine the level of racial discrimination involved in the hiring process.

According to reporting by Franceinfo, this may entail sending two identical CVs for the same job offer, while changing only the candidates “origins” (ethnic or racial background) to gauge discrimination levels.

In the press dossier published by the French government, this segment specifies that regular “testing” will be conducted for both the private and public sector, “according to methods developed alongside trade unions, employer’s organisations, and associations” with the hopes of reinforcing equal opportunities for candidates. These tests will reportedly help companies become more aware of how pervasive discrimination might be in their hiring practices.

According to Franceinfo, companies found to be complicit in discriminating against candidates based on their religious or racial background could face “naming and shaming” in addition to “criminal or financial sanctions” if they fail to respond sufficiently after being made aware of the problem.

Opinion surveys will also be conducted by the Ministries of the Interior and National Education, to determine how often citizens (of all ages) experience acts of discrimination, according to the plan.

Harsher penalties

The plan also aims to toughen penalties for those found guilty of racist or anti-Semitic offences. This will particularly apply to those in public office – from mayors to police officers and teachers, who will face harsher penalties if found guilty of a racist offence.

Helping victims

The government also hopes to allow people who have been victim of discrimination to file complaints with associations, rather than having to come to do so at a police station. This is intended to make the complaint system more anonymous and to “better protect victims”.

Reporting racist or discriminatory comments in Ubers, ride shares and taxis

Borne also said on Monday that the government hoped to create a single platform that all ride share and taxi users could use to report any type of racist or antisemitic discrimination experienced while taking a ride share or taxi.

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The French Jewish community, the third largest in the world, has for months been on edge in the face of a growing number of attacks and desecrations of memorials.

“National police in Rouen neutralised early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city’s synagogue,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Police responded at 6.45 am to reports of “fire near the synagogue”, a police source said.

A source close to the case told AFP the man “was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired. The individual died”.

“It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock,” Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol wrote on X.

He made clear there were no other victims other than the attacker.

Two separate investigations have been opened, one into the fire at the synagogue and another into the circumstances of the death of the individual killed by the police, Rouen prosecutors said.

Such an investigation by France’s police inspectorate general is automatic whenever an individual is killed by the police.

The man threatened a police officer with a knife and the latter used his service weapon, said the Rouen prosecutor.

The dead man was not immediately identified, a police source said.

Asked by AFP, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said that it is currently assessing whether it will take up the case.

France has the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s largest Muslim community.

There have been tensions in France in the wake of the October 7th attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel, followed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Red hand graffiti was painted onto France’s Holocaust Memorial earlier this week, prompted anger including from President Emmanuel Macron who condemned “odious anti-Semitism”.

“Attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Combating anti-Semitism means defending the Republic,” Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF). wrote on X.

France was hit from 2015 by a spate of Islamist attacks that also hit Jewish targets. There have been isolated attacks in recent months and France’s security alert remains at its highest level.