Programme to tackle racial discrimination proposed

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In October 1998, France's Minister for Employment and Solidarity, Martine Aubry, presented a programme to address racial discrimination and proposed the setting up of an observatory on the issue.

Following a recent report from the High Council for Integration (Haut conseil à l'intégration, HCI) on the increase of racial discrimination in employment, the Minister for Employment and Solidarity, Martine Aubry tabled proposals for a programme of measures to the cabinet on 21 October 1998.

A bill to be introduced early in 1999 will aim to:

• improve the way that immigration is perceived;

• tackle discrimination in housing;

• change the way in which French citizenship can be obtained, particularly in terms of the evaluation of "efforts made to integrate" by applicants. The bill would make finding fixed-term employment to a valid criterion for assessing such efforts, whereas the law presently stipulates that only permanent employment contracts may be considered;

• modify the Labour Code, giving extra responsibilities to workforce representatives, widening the scope of collective bargaining and including race discrimination issues in the "social balance sheet" which employers are obliged to draw up; and

• modify the training of union representatives, who are supposed to become corporate "super citizens."

For the time being, the National Employment Agency (Agence Nationale Pour l'Emploi, ANPE) and the National Association for Adult Vocational Training (Association Nationale pour la Formation Professionelle des Adultes, AFPA) have been given instructions to withdraw any discriminatory job advertisements. Their employees have been instructed to refer any dubious practices to the judicial authorities. Government labour inspectors will also be asked to make the tackling of discrimination one of their priorities for 1999 and to set up a genuine support system for complainants. A review of the list of jobs from which non-French nationals are excluded, undertaken in conjunction with other ministries, will increase employment opportunities for foreigners in private or public companies - in particular those involved in national defence.

The Minister for Employment and Solidarity has not implemented all the recommendations made by the HCI. The agency wanted the burden of proof to be reversed in cases of alleged race discrimination at work in terms of recruitment, training and so on. Current anti-racism laws require complainants to provide formal proof of the practices of which they claim to be a victim. The HCI came out in favour of the creation of an "independent agency, one of whose" responsibilities would be to determine the burden of proof. The HCI also recommended that the accused (the employer or its representative) be required to prove that they had not violated the principle of equality. Ms Aubry, however, opted instead to set up a "discrimination observatory" and asked the social partners to examine the idea of "reversing the burden of proof "between before the end of 1998.