INTERVIEW
Racist and anti-Semitic prejudices increased very slightly in France in 2019 compared to 2018, according to the CNCDH, which published its annual report on Thursday. According to the National Consultative Commission for Human Rights, the French are generally much more tolerant than a few years ago. The "tolerance index" of the French is thus 66 out of 100, against 53 in 2013. But racist, anti-Semitic or xenophobic acts are rising sharply in the light of figures from territorial intelligence. "So there is work to be done at all levels of society to fight against this racism. Things are improving but there is still a lot of work", believes Jean-Marie Burguburu, the president of the CNCDH, invited from Europe 1 Thursday.
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Report reveals paradox on anti-black racism
In the 2019 edition of its work "on the fight against racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia", the commission notes a paradox: "While the black minority is with the Jewish minority the one with the best image", according to its barometer on the tolerance of the French, "it is exposed daily to offensive prejudices and numerous discriminations". "On social networks or in stadiums, there is an extremely raw anti-racist racialism, animalising and violent, constructed as opposed to a white standard," she said in this report given to the Prime Minister on Thursday morning.
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An anti-black racism that feeds on biases from the colonial period and the fantasy of the black body and with concrete consequences. Thus, more than half of the descendants of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa feel a sense of injustice at school related to their skin color. One in two black people say they have experienced discrimination at work. And a black person has a 32% less chance of finding accommodation. "There are reflexes of racism", summarizes the president of the CNCDH. "And there is the concept of 'unthought racism', racism 'without realizing it'. We must fight against this too," he adds.
A higher rate of release from racist acts
However, most of these racist acts escape justice. These are most often oral attacks that are difficult to prove, and very few procedures are initiated, which discourages victims from filing complaints. This is why the CNCDH issues recommendations to the government in its report, in particular on the reception of complaints. "It is difficult to lodge a complaint when you are the victim of a racist act. And if you decide to go there, you have to be well received in a police station which will not tell you 'listen, it's nothing , it does not matter, it is a daily act, it is not a racist act. "Yes. It is a racist act, and it is an offense", underlines the president of the CNCDH.
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When a person files a complaint for a racist act, he must also provide evidence. "When it is verbal racist insults, it is of course very difficult if there is not a reliable witness who can bring the proof. But it is necessary that the parquet floor continues, and that the business comes to the court, "he said. In France, the commission estimates that more than a million people have been victims of a racist attack, out of which only 6,603 cases were referred to justice last year for a total of 393 convictions.
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Jean-Marie Burguburu thus notes in court, while "the overall release rate for correctional cases is around 7%", the release rate "in matters of racist acts" is "16% ". "I am wondering, I who am a lawyer: don't the magistrates have a certain propensity to judge that it is not too serious, that it is not really constituted?". Racist acts "are made up even with verbal acts," he insists. The committee thus recalls the need to train police, gendarmes and magistrates in racist disputes to encourage victims to speak out.
In France, notes finally the CNCDH, blacks occupy "too often a subordinate place in French society". Thus it notes "a functional distribution of tasks with an over-representation of black people in low-skilled occupations": housekeepers, nannies, nursing assistants for women; garbage collectors, security guards, very physical tasks for men.
How to end it?
In its recommendations, it therefore enjoins the public authorities "to develop surveys allowing better knowledge of discrimination"; to develop tools such as testings, "in particular in public services, police stations and gendarmeries."
The CNCDH therefore advises to launch "communication campaigns against stereotypes towards black people, in particular by showing their social, economic and professional diversity". It would be necessary "to focus more the school programs on the multicultural roots of France and their contributions to the national culture", according to the CNCDH which recommends to the Superior council of audio-visual (CSA) "to encourage the representation of the men and the women black, including in expertise functions. "