Dossier prepared by Régine Dhoquois-Cohen and Olfa Lamloum
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Dossier prepared by Régine Dhoquois-Cohen and Olfa Lamloum
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In order to clarify the notion of “discrimination”, one must first examine how the term is used in comparison to related notions (inequality, differential treatment), before showing that, even from a strictly legal standpoint, there are various interpretations possible. Depending on whether one makes reference to international legal documents, internal legal texts, or jurisprudence, the term does not always have exactly the same meaning and isn’t always defined in the same terms.
The social sciences in France have always had problems turning immigration into an independent object of study, and have shown little initiative in tackling difficult subjects such as racism and inter-ethnic relations. The current evolution of the notion of racism and its categorization call for a reworking of the statistical tools used in observation. The lack of scientific research on racism creates gaps in public policy, while the French doctrine of equality leads to, directly or indirectly, weaknesses in the scientific investigation of the problem. This article proposes to examine the different justifications put forth for the use of statistical tools in the development of a public policy towards fighting discrimination.
Social policy is a vast terrain, one that includes, according to the Social Charter of the European Council, the most complete catalog of social rights that exists to date. In this article, we will discuss certain general characteristics of social policies that risk to label these social rights as discriminatory, because of national origin or citizenship, or because of ethnic or cultural characteristics, both real and imagined. Several different aspects will then be examined that can be seen as showing the persistence, or even the increase, of discrimination: in aide policies and social action, health, in favor of handicapped persons, as well as those menaced by exclusion, or those who have already been excluded.
The French society and economy have been created and developed for over a century with the active participation of immigrants. Close to thirty years after the governmental decision to “suspend” the entry of new foreign workers into France, the subject of immigration remains an issue of first importance. In France, there are no statistics on ethnic groups; however, a discrepancy has developed between the social perception of immigration and its legal definition. It is the youth coming from immigrant families who are stigmatized as being immigrants, though they are, for the most part, French citizens. A youth for which the current legislation seems out of date.
Why talk
of religious discrimination?
Reflections based on the situation of Muslims in France
(N°48, Winter 2003-2004, 10 pages)
Valérie Amiraux
Could the introduction of the notion of discrimination into the debate on “Islam in France” allow for a new and pertinent analysis of the stakes and questions posed by the public management of confessional pluralism? A positive response to this question is put forth in this article, in particular within a perspective that does not isolate the national context, which is central for the understanding of the phenomena cited above at the European level. Using a study undertaken in 2002, this article reexamines the link between plans to combat discrimination and their specific application on the experiences of injustice and unequal treatment that the Muslim population has experienced. This will be achieved by examining the difficulty of defining the notion of “religious discrimination” at an individual level, and, at the same time, by discussing questions of the unequal treatment of religion and worship.
The
under-representation of French
citizens of non-European origin
within public institutions.
Between trial and error and the absence of political will
(N°48, Winter 2003-2004, pages)
Adda Bekkouche
Since the nomination of two secretaries of state with Algerian origins, in May 2002, the reality of the current situation has become clear: French citizens of non-European origin are under-represented within the public institutions. Since then, a debate has taken place on the inaction of the prior governments, notably those from the left, with the Socialist Party at the head, and the competition that has been created between the two largest parties of the government. In order to better grasp the issues behind debate, an analysis of some of the historical and comparative details concerning the level of participation of the non-European citizens within the European Union is in order – with the goal of presenting the major domains of action that need be undertaken to correct this anomaly. Beforehand, the role that this debate has within the scientific community must be also examined.
The Union of the Magistrature (le Syndicat de la Magistrature), founded in July of 1968, was the first union of magistrates to be created in France. During professional elections, it receives around 30% of all votes. Resolutely left wing, the Union of the Magistrature (UM) considers the defense of democratic liberties as one of the principal domains of its activity. The UM militates in favor of greater social justice in France and in the European Union. During these last few years, the syndicate has associated and engaged itself with other organizations in different struggles: against double jeopardy, in favor of the regularization of those without proper identity or working papers. It has also taken part in numerous national and international demonstrations. It came out in opposition against the reform of the retirement system and participated in the European Social Forum. A few years ago, the UM took as a priority the fight against what they consider the “rise of the ideology of security” and the theory of “zero tolerance”, aimed, by their analysis, at penalizing poverty. The intervention of the UM is above all focused on criticizing the new laws on internal security, immigration, organized crime and political asylum. Confluences met with the secretary-general of the Union of Magistrature, Dominique Brault, and asked him a series of questions on the discrimination in his field of action.
Observing
discrimination:
(N°48, Winter 2003-2004, 3 pages)
Group for the Study of and Struggle Against Discrimination (GELD)
The creation of GELD in October of 1999, conceived of as an observatory of racial discrimination, testifies a double wish of the public powers: to officially recognize the threat that discrimination against those with foreign origin, both real and supposed, poses for our society and to construct a dynamic public policy of prevention, bringing together the State, social partners and associations.
Defending the rights of foreigners,
(N°48, Winter 2003-2004, 4 pages)
The
Immigrant Support and Information Group (ISIG)
The “ISIG” was created in 1972 from the coming together of social workers, militant associations in touch with the foreign populations and lawyers. This double approach, being both concrete as well as juridical, represents the originality of the group. The ISIG’s mission is to respond to the legal needs of immigrants and the associations that support them. This method of intervention is all the more necessary given that the regulations concerning foreigners are too often misunderstood, even by the officials charged with their application.
The work
of SOS Racism against ethnic discrimination
(N°48, Winter 2003-2004, 6 ages)
interview with Dominique Sopo
Dominique Sopo was elected the president of SOS Racism in June of 2003, after being a diligent supporter since 1996. It was above all the election of Malek Boutih as president in 1999 and the subsequent reorientation of the organization towards the discrimination that moved Sopo to invest himself fully. The organization seemed thus to him to be more in touch with reality than the rhetoric on integration from anti-racism organizations.
Social security of
foreign citizens:
the difficult path towards equal rights
(N°48, Winter 2003-2004, 16 pages)
Antoine Math and Adeline Toullier
Social security isn’t a privilege, it is an integral part of human rights and constitutes, particularly in international legal texts, a basic right for every human being, regardless of his or her nationality. The universal characteristic of the right to social security is still all too often neglected in the name of national priorities, even though these priorities are subordinate to international norms. Additionally, the differential treatment depending on the nationality of the applicant - veritable forms of discrimination - has long from disappeared in the European Union (UE). The approximately 14 million foreign nationals residing in the UE are in an unfavorable position because of this form of discrimination. The construction of Europe, while consolidating and enriching the rights of those who are called today “European citizens”, has had the paradoxical effect of increasing the gap between those who are not, in terms of freedom of circulation, access to the labor market and social rights.
The discrimination of the tziganes in Europe is more political than economic or socio-cultural. Discrimination for citizenship, discrimination in Europe, but perhaps not an everlasting discrimination? This people who has endured every possible sort of difficulty, continues nonetheless and to our great astonishment, to participate in our collective history.
As a complement to the article Jean-Pierre Dacheux has written, we are publishing here the text of his presentation in front of the National Assembly, the 20th of September 2001, for the study on the citizenship of residence.
Immigration and politics in Spain have undergone profound changes these last few years: on one hand an influx that has been transformed in terms of origin and direction, while, on the other, an immigration policy that could be qualified as discriminatory.
In Italy, public
sensibility towards discrimination has always been fairly weak. It has only been
during this last decade that general attention has been attracted to the
different forms of discrimination and racism - thanks to the emotional reaction
caused by media attention and by the new virulence of the phenomenon. However,
the struggle against this plague has remained
uneffective. This article will
attempt to point out how that which has occurred in Italy is especially
revealing of the development of the phenomenon in current conjecture, aggravated
at the same time by the neo-liberal development, new public orientations and the
actions of neo-conservatives in America and in Europe.
The
League of Arab Nations before the Committee
Against Racial Discrimination
(N°48, Winter 2003-2004, 15 pages)
Ramdane Babadji
The principle of non-discrimination, a corollary to the equality between human beings, is extremely important within the international law on human rights. It is present in texts with universal appeal as well as regional legal texts (Africa, America and Europe). Additionally, the principle has become central point of a certain number of treaties dealing with a specific form of discrimination: employment and profession (ILO, 1958), education (UNESCO, 1960), race (1965) and women (1979). The Committee on Human Rights has made non-discrimination “a fundamental and general principal of human rights”. This article will deal in particular with racial non-discrimination. After a rapid presentation of the main legislation on racial non-discrimination, a brief and partial synthesis will follow, discussing some of important conclusions adopted by the Committee Against Racial Discrimination after a presentation by the League of Arab Nations.
Current events |
A
royal promise for an audacious reform of the status
of women
(N°48, Winter 2003-2004, pages)
Abderrahim Lamchichi
Friday, the 10th of October 2003, at the opening of the fall session of the Parliament, the king of Morocco, Mohammed VI announced his determination to completely overhaul the legal code pertaining to the family. He outlined the major themes of a new project that is destined to substantially improve the status of women in Moroccan society by giving them new rights: the severe restriction of the practices of repudiation and polygamy, the instauration of the consent to marriage, the affirmation of new prerogatives for the woman in case of divorce, the alignment of the age of marriage for girls and boys and even the banning of the custom of male wardship. Five months after the suicide attacks in Casablanca, this project, which very positively responds to many, though not all, of the essential demands of feminist groups in Morocco, will be debated and a new Family Code will be adopted by the Parliament at the end of the year.
The 14th of December, the voters of the self-proclaimed “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” elected their deputies. For the first time in twenty years, the opposing party succeeded in overthrowing the local despot, the untouchable Rauf Denktash, henchman of the military powers in Ankara. That the Greek-speaking portion of the island will join the European Union on May 1st, 2004 has obviously not passed by unnoticed in the “TRNC”.
Where
does Europe end and Africa begin in the Mediterranean?
The viewpoint of the geologist
(N°48, Winter 2003-2004, pages)
Dominique Frizon de Lamotte
The southern Mediterranean border of Europe seems, a priori, obvious and intangible. There is no borderline to point to. From a geological point of view, the Mediterranean area is a vast patchwork of continental blocks having traversed from one continent to the other with the passage of time: a veritable continental salad bowl, rich in exchange and interaction.
Confluences Culture |
The Jewish musical patrimony can be defined as a plurality manifesting itself as a cultural unity. It is made up of diverse musical traditions that form the stock that is common to all the communities of the Diaspora and that are based on biblical hymns, prayers, sacred and profane chants, chants for men and for women, those for the sabbath, festivals, holy days – in short, all of the important events that mark one’s life from birth to death. The literary material from which this patrimony stems is extremely rich. Sacred and profane, modest and elaborate creations are mixed together, sometimes subtly, sometimes overtly. While it is true that the hymns in the synagogues, the prayers and the biblical psalmody all have a common denominator – the Hebrew language – this is not at all the case for the profane music, where the defining factor is their diversity, where it is the linguistic and musical confusion of Babel that reigns.
Each year, at the same time, gypsies, or Romans from Serbia begin their musical jousts. Dozens of band cross swords, or rather tubas and trumpets. The festival isn’t a thing of myth. The winners can hope to win large sums of money and to be entered into the rich marriages of the country, even the diaspora. And for some gypsies, the golden trumpets can lead even to the gates of the cinema.
Within about a month’s time
(the 3rd of September to the 1rst of October, 2003) two grand Balkan poets, a
Greek and a Macedonian, passed away. Without having known each other, although
they had common friends, these two writers had numerous similarities. Verbose
and gifted, they were both rebels, not wishing to be catalogued or to be
associated with a certain school.
The
latest example of media revisionism
(N°48, Winter 2003-2004, pages)
Mohammed Harbi and Gilbert Meynier
Various reflections on the book by Marc Benamou, “A French Lie: Looking back on the war in Algeria” (Un mensonge français. Retours sur la guerre d’Algérie) published by Robert Laffont in 2003.
