E/CN.4/1996/72/Add.3
page 19
Annex II
SITUATION WITH REGARD TO MANIFESTATIONS OF RACISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM
(excerpted from the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights
1994: La lutte contre le racisme et la xénophie
,
Paris, La documentation française, March 1995)
KNOWN RACIST INCIDENTS
Every year since 1980, the Ministry of the Interior and Land Use
Management has compiled a summary of manifestations of racism and
anti-Semitism in France, along with an analysis of their growth.
These statistics make two types of distinction:
Manifestations of anti-Semitism, when they are clearly intended as
such - in other words, when French Jews are mentioned in claims of
responsibility or are the motive for or target of such incidents - are covered
by statistics that differ from those on racism in general, including antiMaghrebi racism.
In manifestations of racism and anti-Semitism, the statistics
distinguish between “acts”, i.e. violence against property and persons
(attacks, injuries, deaths), and “threats” (graffiti, leaflets, tracts,
letters, phone calls and the like).
The same criteria have been used in these statistics for more than
10 years. It should be noted that they differ from those used by the Ministry
of Justice, which compiles a summary of judicial measures taken to combat
racism and xenophobia.
For several years, the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights
has been requesting that these criteria should be harmonized.
Concerning the summary of manifestations of racism and anti-Semitism,
the Ministry of the Interior makes the prefatory statement that any analysis
dealing with the growth of racist and anti-Semitic violence comes up against
problems of counting, despite careful checking. Several criteria are taken
1
into account, including the target, claims of responsibility,
and arrests.
As there are no specific indications of the approach taken during
investigations, motivation is often difficult to determine. Anti-immigrant
acts are not systematically racist.
Similarly, racist violence in continental France and acts of violence
against immigrants in Corsica are not based on exactly the same principles.
1
Although this type of violence is seldom claimed, except by telephone
calls made on the occasion.