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Morning
7 March 2000


The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning concluded its consideration of the report of France after hearing a French delegation say that every magistrate in the country had the obligation to effectively apply the law against discrimination and that the Government had also taken measures to fight xenophobia and racism.

The remark was made by the delegation of France during the discussion of its fourteenth periodic report on how the Government was implementing the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms Racial Discrimination. The delegation responded to a series of questions raised by members of the Committee during two meetings.

Michael Parker Banton, the Committee expert who served as the country rapporteur to the report of France, noted that the delegation did not reflect in its responses whether the previous recommendations of the Committee had played an important role in the drafting of French policies to change the situation with regard to the fight against racial discrimination.

The Committee will issue its formal, written recommendations on the report of France towards the end of its three-week session, which concludes on 24 March.

The French delegation included the Deputy Representative of France to the United Nations Office at Geneva and representatives of the Ministry of Justice; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Ministry of Interior; the State Secretariat for Overseas Territories; the Ministry of Employment and of Solidarity; the Ministry of Defence; the Ministry of National Education; and the Ministry of Equipment and Housing.

Also participating in the discussion were Committee experts Mahmoud Aboul-Nasr, Patricia Nozipho January-Bardill and Agha Shahi.

France is one of the 155 States parties to the Convention, and as such it is obligated to submit periodic reports to the Committee on the administrative and legislative measures taken by the Government in view of implementing the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will take up the report of Zimbabwe.

Discussion

In response to a number of queries put by Committee experts during the previous meeting, the members of the French delegation said that French political parties had condemned the attitudes of far right political parties, including that led by Jörg Haider of Austria.

Every French magistrate had the obligation to effectively apply the law against discrimination, the delegation said. The Government had also taken measures to fight xenophobia and racism.

Turning to the Schengen agreement, the delegation said that it was not aimed at creating a restricted "European Club", as alluded by one of the Committee's experts. The Schengen area was neither a fortress nor an exclusive club. Since the implementation of the Schengen area, common policies for visas and asylum requests had been designed by the 13 Member States.

Concerning entry visas to France, the delegation said with the exception of members of the European Union countries, the United States and Lebanon, nationals of all other countries required valid visas. The 13 members of the Schengen agreement had developed a list of 133 countries whose nationals required visas to enter their territories. The Schengen visa system allowed people to freely move from one Member State to another, thus abolishing border check points between the Schengen members.

Responding to a question on expulsion of persons holding valid visas, the delegation said that classical security checks were still in force at certain border points to avoid known or suspected terrorists from entering the Schengen countries. In addition, refusal to enter or to issue a visa could be justified by the authorities.

The French delegation told the Committee that the review of the country's Constitution had been postponed. The review would have dealt with innovative prospects on various rights issues, including monitoring of custody, use of handcuffs and rights of foreigners, among others things.

With regard to the right of asylum, the delegation said that about 31,000 persons had presented applications for asylum, out of which about 4,000 had been accepted. Individuals from Sri Lanka, Iran, Afghanistan and Rwanda made up 70 per cent of the total requests. Many of the requests were based on economic reasons rather than on the spirit of the 1951 Geneva Convention for Refugees.

During 1999 alone, 4,817 applications had been submitted for asylum at border points, out of which 4,209 were admitted to enter the country while 608 were refused, the delegation said. In addition, territorial asylum was granted for persons who risked ill-treatment or deprivation of liberties. Freedom fighters could also stay in France if they requested asylum. Also, refugees could continue to live in France despite the cessation clause which was applicable to their original request.

On the excessive use of force by the law enforcement agents, the delegation said that certain cases of misuse of force by members of the police were not racially motivated. Some incidents might need excessive force and the use of force was to avoid any further violence and to protect others. However, last year, 84 members of the police were sanctioned for unjustified use of force in their functions. Police training and dialogue between local residents and members of the police had also continued to improve the situation.

The delegation said that the Government of France had been pursuing housing policies which gave priority to persons in need by providing them with subsidised public houses. Low-cost houses were also distributed to foreigners living legally in France.

The teaching of minority languages such as Tahiti, Polynesian and Caledonian had been encouraged in all French schools, the delegation said. The Government also had a clear desire to promote the cultures of overseas communities and efforts had been made in that field, the delegation said.

MICHAEL PARKER BANTON, the Committee expert who served as the country rapporteur to the report of France, said that the delegation did not reflect in its responses whether the previous recommendations of the Committee had played an important role in the drafting of French policies to change the situation with regard to the fight against racial discrimination.

Mr. Banton further said that as in all communities, police officers had their own culture, without which they could not perform their duties. However, their performance needed improvement and their culture needed to be further developed.

Mr. Banton said that he regretted that some of the Committee's queries were not properly answered by the members of the delegation and he hoped that the responses would be included in the next periodic report of France.




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