The government is to announce on Monday a plan to fight racism, antisemitism and discrimination linked to origin. This 2023-2026 plan, which will be detailed by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and the Minister responsible for Equal Opportunities Isabelle Rome, in the presence of ten other ministers, provides for a series of measures which affect different sectors, ranging from education employment, justice or sport.
In the working world
Among its flagship measures, it plans for example to “systematize testing on discrimination in employment”, in different sectors of activity, private and public, in consultation with trade unions and employers’ organizations and associations in particular.
“Testing”, or also called “situation test” or “discrimination test”, consists of sending two identical CVs for the same job offer with the only differences being the origin of the candidate and/or an address in a popular neighborhood. In a “graduated logic”, if the bad practices persist, the government does not exclude publishing the names of the not very virtuous companies.
At school and online
The plan also provides for the organization of a “history or memory visit linked to racism, antisemitism or anti-Gypsyism for each student during their schooling”. A “strengthening” of the training of teachers and state civil servants in general (security forces, Pôle emploi reception agents, etc.) is also requested.
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”.
In righteousness
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”.
As with victims of sexual violence, the government wants to secure the filing of a complaint . Also the police are invited to better collect and process them, via “partial anonymization” or thanks to “an evaluation grid” in order to “better qualify the facts when taking complaint”.
The government still intends to include in the law “the possibility” of issuing an “arrest warrant” in the event of “racist or antisemitic convictions”, “dispute of crimes against humanity” or “apology for crimes against humanity or war crimes”. This is to allow the execution of sentences “when the convicted perpetrators think of escaping it by fleeing abroad”.
