Police violence, racial discrimination…, France singled out at the UN Human Rights Council

2023-05-08 12:00:00

HUMAN RIGHTS – France came under a salvo of criticism, Monday, May 1, 2023, at the UN Human Rights Council. Many Member States, including the United States, China and Russia, have denounced a “disproportionate repression” demonstrations and a “excessive use of force” from the hexagonal forces of order. They recommend to Paris to “redouble” efforts to combat violence and racial discrimination, and to launch independent investigations to “punish those responsible”. The French delegation’s response was provided by the legal adviser to the Ministry of the Interior, Sabrine Balim. She mentioned the problem of wearing the RIO (the identification number of the police), which has recently been talked about during the demonstrations against the pension law.

During the 43rd session of theUniversal Periodic Review (UPR)a procedure aimed at examining the human rights situation in the Member States of the United Nations, France took stock of its achievements since 2018, year of the last UPR.

It was Isabelle Rome, Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister, in charge of Equality and Diversity, who took the floor to list the French advances in terms of equality, the fight against racial discrimination, the speeches of hatred or even anti-Semitism and violence against women.

A l’#UPR43, @RomeIsabelleMinister of@egalite_gouvsaid that the #France a :
-accepted more than 80% of the 297 recommendations it received during its last UPR
– made every effort to implement these recommendations
-makes inclusiveness the key word of its action pic.twitter.com/W8q33niDIw

— UN Human Rights Council (@UN_HRC) May 1, 2023

Efforts hailed by the Member States, which quickly pinpointed the false notes of the human rights situation in France: racism and xenophobia, excessive use of force by the police, racial discrimination, attacks on immigrants…

“Disproportionate repression”

In their report, the UN experts denounced a “disproportionate repression” events such as those of “yellow vests”and “excessive use of force” and a number “pupil” arrests and custody.

France has also been singled out for the way in which police searches are carried out on individuals, how the confiscation of the property of demonstrators takes place or even how “serious injuries” are inflicted on them.

In this regard, article 24 of the bill “for global security” of May 25, 2021 was mentioned, aiming to “limit the publication of images of police officers and authorize surveillance techniques”. This one would be “incompatible with international human rights law”.

China, as an original member of the UN, regretted a “increase in racism and xenophobia” et “measures that violate the rights of migrants” In France. Russia, Venezuela and Iran expressed their “concern” due to the use of “harsh and sometimes violent measures” used in order to “disperse peaceful citizens”.

Brazil and Japan have mainly denounced the “racial profiling by security forces”. Means perceived as exaggerated which arouse “fears” in Sweden, Norway and Denmark while Liechtenstein calls for an “independent investigation”. An opinion shared by Malaysia and South Africa, which demand “impartial investigations” into “cases of racist incidents” so that “those responsible are punished”.

For their part, the United States has “recommended that France intensify its efforts to combat crimes and threats of violence, religiously motivated such as anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hatred”. A recommendation similar to that of the UN and the Member States, which also called on Paris to “redouble efforts to combat racial discrimination, xenophobia, racism and hate speech”.

The use of force “strictly framed” according to France

On policing policy, representatives of UN member states particularly highlighted racial profiling and the excessive use of force during demonstrations. Moreover, on this point, the UN recommends providing “police officers of all ranks” training on human rights and the management of demonstrations.

At the same session, France was invited to ratify the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and to guarantee the rights of migrants and asylum seekers.

Also present in Geneva, Sabrine Balim, legal adviser to the Ministry of the Interior, reacted to the multiple criticisms targeting French policing policy. She claimed that “the use of force is strictly framed, controlled and, in case of fault, sanctioned”. She also recalled that the police had an obligation to wear an individual identification number. “in order to ensure visibility and traceability of their actions”.

This is the RIO (referential number of identities and organization, editor’s note) which was recently the subject of several human rights organizations of a summary-freedom before the Council of State for failure by officials to fulfill this obligation.

These organisations, the Syndicat de la magistrature (SM), the Syndicat des avocats de France (SAF), the Human Rights League (LDH) and Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), have requested that the Ministry of the Interior be ordered to take “strengthened measures” so that all the forces of order supervising the demonstrations visibly and legibly wear the registration number allowing them to be individually identified

At the time of this session of the UN Human Rights Council, 540 people were arrested in France during the demonstrations of May 1, according to a figure from the Ministry of the Interior. 406 law enforcement officers and 61 demonstrators were injured.

In Paris, where 281 people were arrested and placed in police custody, 124 were released and had their proceedings dismissed, i.e. a rate of 44% (note that many individuals were released, so obviously without classification on the part of the prosecution to be counted, editor’s note).

The Paris police chief, Laurent Nuñez, denied to CNews having instructed the police to make preventive arrests. He explained that the arrests in demonstration are mainly motivated by “attacks on the forces of order”.

Darmanin absent from the Insoumis debate

On the carpet for many years, police repression recorded a peak from 2018 with the demonstrations of “yellow vests”. For several weeks, the protests against the pension reform, adopted by the use of article 49 paragraph 3 by the government, have brought their share of sometimes violent situations in the face of the police.

Before being singled out at the 43rd session of the UPR, France was already called in March 2023 by the United Nations special rapporteur for freedom of assembly, Clément Voulé, to guarantee and protect the right “fundamental” citizens to demonstrate peacefully. “I follow the ongoing demonstrations very closely and recall that peaceful demonstrations are a fundamental right that the authorities must guarantee and protect. Law enforcement officers must facilitate them and avoid any excessive use of force”.

The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, expressed in a press release her worry regarding the development of the situation in France. “The conditions under which the freedoms of expression and assembly are exercised in France within the framework of the social mobilization against the pension reform are worrying”she wrote.

For her, the violence committed by demonstrators “cannot justify the excessive use of force by agents of the State. Nor are these acts sufficient to deprive peaceful protesters of the enjoyment of the right to freedom of assembly”. “The violence must stop. It is a necessary condition for the effective exercise of the freedoms of expression and assembly, as well as for trust between the population and the police.”she concluded.

Often questioned about police violence and the repression of demonstrations, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin blows hot and cold. He repeatedly mentioned the fatigue of the police and the gendarmes to justify the overruns denounced, promising sanctions in the face of “unethical acts”.

Wednesday May 3, 2023, Darmanin was absent from the debate on “The repression of the social movement against the pension reform”, organized by the Insoumis. According Mediapartthe Minister of the Interior “pretexted a presence at the QAG (questions to the government) in the Senate at the same time”, diligent his overseas Minister, Jean-François Carenco.

During this session, Mathilde Panot, president of the rebellious group, who castigated the turn “ridicule” that the debate was taking, drew up the situation by listing the “anti-demonstration orders, each one more puppet than the other”the “endangerment of police officers and demonstrators blinded and mutilated” or even the “serious violations of fundamental rights” people taken into custody during the demonstrations.