The UN should question the French government about its unfulfilled promises

17/01/2013
Press release
en fr

UN member States should use the UPR to recommend to France to protect effectively human rights for all, including migrants and minorities, during its UPR on January 21, 2013.

The UPR is a UN mechanism allowing all countries to assess the human rights record of each member State every four years and to make recommendations for improvements. France’s last UPR in 2008 focused in particular on racial discriminations, the protection of minorities and migrants’ rights.

For the upcoming review, the Ligue des droits de l’homme (LDH) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) call upon states which will take part in this review to remind France of its 2008 unfulfilled promises as well as to make new recommendations to the French government’s lack of political will in this domain : « Despite repeated promises before various UN organs, France has still not come up with an effective and coherent action-plan against racism » Pierre Tartakowsky, President of LDH. « The new government has moved backward on the issue of ethnic profiling in identity checks, despite the fact that this situation has many times been denounced not only by member States to the UN but also by the UN Committee on racial discriminations. »

France has also been the target of severe criticisms for not complying with the prohibition on extradition measures requested by a UN organ (the Committee against torture) for persons at risk of bring subjected to torture in their country of origin. « The French Government must seize the UPR as an opportunity to put its action in line with its discourse. It must accept unequivocally all recommendations pertaining to its international obligations » Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President declared. « France should take UN criticisms seriously. Its credibility is at stake ». Our organizations recall that those injunctions made by the UN are part of the international obligations that France consented to be bound by and has to comply with.

For a summary of our organizations’ areas of concern for the UPR (PDF file, 74.1ko)

To follow live the review of France [ Monday 21 January, from 9am to 12:30 ]

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