E/CN.4/1996/72/Add.3 page 8 24. Thus, it is clear that, although discrimination in hiring is illegal and punishable by law, it has acquired a certain legitimacy in a pernicious social context. 25. Discrimination in access to housing has also been found to exist and may be illustrated by the following table. Table 2 Categories of foreigners or persons of foreign origin considered by the population resident in France to be most affected by discrimination in housing (by percentage) Categories discriminated against Men Women Total Total of Arabs, Maghrebis and North Africans 72.6 78.1 75.4 Algerians 6.2 11.5 8.9 Moroccans 0.7 1.8 1.2 18 14 16 90.6 92.3 91.5 Total of other nationalities or geographical areas 1.8 2.1 2.0 Total of replies by skin colour: Non-whites, Blacks, persons of colour 6.4 6.4 6.4 Total of replies of a religious nature 1.2 0.4 0.8 Total of replies with pejorative connotations 0.2 0.0 0.1 Total of Black Africans and persons of colour Total of Arabs and Black Africans Weighted total Non-weighted total 9 255 662 563 9 381 215 591 18 636 877 1 154 Source : National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED). MGIS survey carried out in cooperation with the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), 1992. 26. There is a host of testimony by been accepted on the telephone on the have subsequently learned that “their the apartment they had wanted so much Maghrebis and Black Africans who have basis of a European-sounding name and appearance had betrayed them” and that had just been rented. In some communes,