Topic: Eliminating Racism
Country: France
Delegate Name: Aaron Bernard
School: Roeper School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All France position papers GLIMUN 2009 committees
The Republic of France is deeply invested in trying to cure the sickness of racism. As a former colonial nation France has had past issues of racism. However for over two centuries, France has been an international pacesetter in the abolition of slavery and in reducing racism in our domestic and overseas territories. We were the first European nation to outlaw slavery. Hundreds of French people of color fought side by side in France of European origin, against repressive regimes in 1789, 1830, 1848, and 1870. France has notable groundbreaking legislation that has been used in the fight against racism. The law on freedom of the press sanctions, passed in 1881, put sanction on racist speech and writings also it prohibited insult or defamation against any group of people.
In the past half century, The Republic of France has again been at the forefront of the fight against racism by using its laws as an example on how to combat this issue.
The “Pleven” anti-racism law (1972)
– extends prohibition to include racist speech or writing perpetrated against individuals;
– creates the offence of provoking discrimination, hatred or “racial violence”;
– prohibits certain racist behavior by creating the offence of discrimination;
– allows anti-racism organizations to act on behalf of the victims as the party claiming damages (provided the organization has been established for five years).
The Labor Code
– since 2001, discrimination is specifically prohibited in: recruitment, sanctions and dismissal, training, remuneration and promotion;
– the rules for the burden of proof have been modified: the victim does not have to prove the facts, but must provide material indications, and the employer must then prove that the measure taken was for reasons other than discriminatory ones;
– takes account of indirect discrimination, where a neutral criterion is likely to create a particular disadvantage for people of a particular origin.
The Republic of France has for over two centuries guaranteed the rights of peoples of differing religious and racial origins. Included in these groups are France’s significant Jewish population, who have from the era of the 1789 Revolution, been guaranteed civil and legal equality. More recently, France has had substantial immigration, not only by people of color from its former Caribbean and sub-Saharan African colonies, but also by people of Arabic origin from North Africa and the Middle East.
A vital topic currently as a subset of racism is anti-Semitism, and stemming from that, the question of Palestine. The Republic of France believes that the Palestinian people have a right to a state, which they are entitled in the name of International Law and Justice. France similarly believes that the people of Israel have the right to live in security, which the tragedies of History have made so necessary for them. At times, the French Republic’s support of these seemingly contradictory positions has brought strife within France, it regions, and its cities, yet France continues to oppose racism against anyone and by anyone. The nations of the world must band together to act in a similar fashion.
