Racism, anti-Semitism… The government unveils its plan against discrimination

From the Arab World Institute, the government must unveil, this Monday, January 30, its plan to fight against racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination. This will “extend and enrich” Edouard Philippe’s plan in March 2018.

This Monday, January 30, at the Arab World Institute, the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Bornepresents, together with the Minister Delegate for Equality Isabelle Rome, her government’s plan to fight against racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination.

During her vows to the press last Monday, the Matignon tenant had deemed the young man’s recent suicide “intolerable”. Lucas, 13, whose parents say he was bullied because of his homosexuality. According to AFP, Elisabeth Borne also noted that her government’s plan “will extend and enrich” that of former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in 2018.

“The fight for equal opportunities is to break down the inequalities of destiny, (…) it is the fight against sexist and sexual violence, it is the fight against discrimination,” said Elisabeth Borne. , believing that “France must be the fatherland of emancipation”.

school visits, training, increased sentences…

The Prime Minister – whose father, a Jew, was deported, then took his own life when his daughter was 11 – provides in particular in this plan, “the organization of a visit of history or memory linked to the racism, anti-Semitism or anti-Gypsyism for each pupil during his schooling”.

A “strengthening” of the training of teachers and state civil servants in general (security forces, Pôle emploi reception agents, etc.) is also planned, and must begin “from the beginning of 2023”.

The government also intends to create aggravated penalties in the event of “non-public offenses of a racist or anti-Semitic nature committed in the exercise of their function by persons holding public authority or charged with a public service mission”.

“testing” and “name and shame”

Among its flagship measures, the plan also plans to “systematize testing on discrimination in employment”, in different sectors, private and public, in consultation with trade unions and employers’ organizations and associations in particular. Testing consists of sending two identical CVs for the same job offer with the only differences, in particular the origin of the candidate.

In a “graduated logic”, if the bad practices persist, the government does not exclude sanctions and to resort to the practice of “name and shame”, publishing the names of the not very virtuous companies.

In order to “promote digital citizenship”, the plan plans to involve “platforms and influencers, in a collaborative work to develop tools aimed at improving the behavior of Internet users”.

securing the filing of a complaint

On the judicial side, the government wishes to secure the filing of complaints, as for victims of sexual violence. The police are invited to better collect and process them, via “partial anonymization” or thanks to “an evaluation grid”.

The government still intends to enshrine in law the possibility of issuing an “arrest warrant” in the event of “convictions of a racist or anti-Semitic nature”, “disputing a crime against humanity” or “apology for a crime against humanity or a war crime”. This to allow the execution of sentences “when the convicted perpetrators think of escaping it by fleeing abroad”.

According to data from the Ministry of Justice, in 2021, “7,721 cases of a racist, anti-Semitic or xenophobic nature were the subject of legal action”. In total “1,382 convictions (have been) pronounced for racist, anti-Semitic or xenophobic acts or committed with this aggravating circumstance”.

Inequalities highlighted since the health crisis

The Ministry responsible forEquality between women and menof Diversity and Equal Opportunities indicated that, since the start of the health crisis in 2020, the confinements have “shed light on social inequalities and exacerbated the hatred and discrimination suffered in particular by people of ethnic origin. foreign or perceived as such”.

“Stigmatizing words and behavior have multiplied, ranging from insults and attacks in public spaces or on social networks to bullying children at school,” he added.

Moreover, the report published by the Defenders of Rights in 2020, the first year of Covid-19, showed “that the prevalence of discrimination based on origin, which affects the lives of millions of individuals, calls into question their most fundamental rights, as well as social cohesion” . Thus, people who are foreign and perceived as such are disadvantaged in access to employment, housing and education.

“The failure to take into account the data and research that have multiplied over the past twenty years shows the blindness of the public authorities and of each and everyone on these questions and translates a political denial, participating in the problem and its reproduction; it is one of the ways in which this discrimination is perpetuated”, denounced the Defenders of Rights.

With 11% of individuals declaring to have experienced one or more forms of discrimination because of their origin or the color of their skin over the past five years, “the measures deployed within the framework of the National Plan 2023-2026 are intended to correct these discrimination and the risk of their possible systemic dimension”, concluded the Ministry.