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102. With regard to the activities of associations engaging in racist
activities, the legislature has provided for the possibility of disbanding
such groups by virtue of Act No. 72-545 of 19 July 1972. The President of the
Republic may also, by decree issued in the Council of Ministers, decide on the
disbandment of associations or groups guilty of incitement to racial or ethnic
discrimination, hatred or violence.
103. With regard to control of immigration and reception and residence of
foreigners in France, the Special Rapporteur fears that some provisions of the
Act of 24 August 1993 may militate against the right of family reunion. In
his view, the fact that the competent administrative authority pronounces for
or against family reunion following a procedure that involves consulting the
mayor of the foreigner’s place of residence about the family’s resources and
housing may lead to arbitrary decisions.
F.
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
104. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia guarantees the
equality of people and citizens irrespective of their national origin, race,
sex, language, religious, political or other belief, education, social origin,
financial standing and personal property. The Constitution and laws of the
federal units, Serbia and Montenegro, provide the same guarantees. The
problem of racial discrimination and racism in their classic forms does not
exist in Yugoslavia, so that there is no need for the country to adopt
separate programmes to combat racial discrimination and racism.
105. However, as a multinational community, the question of a harmonious
coexistence of members of various nations, national minorities and ethnic
groups is one of the major factors of the existence and development of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Different nationalities, ethnic communities
and languages, as well as different religions and cultures, have always
provided richness to a community, but have also presented a difficulty in
ensuring the harmony necessary for the existence of a community as a whole.
106. As in other States in which various national groups live, Yugoslavia also
has problems deriving from its population structure: they include incitement
to national and religious hatred and intolerance, various forms of
discrimination and intolerance and the violation of equality on national
grounds and the derision of peoples and national minorities.
107. In its federal criminal legislation, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
has criminalized the following criminal acts: incitement to national, racial
and religious hatred, cleavage or intolerance (article 134 of the Criminal
Code); criminal act of genocide (article 141 of the Criminal Code);
destruction of cultural and historical monuments (article 151 of the Criminal
Code); incitement to racial and other discrimination (article 154 of the
Criminal Code); violation of equality in employment (article 162 of the
Criminal Code); violation of the equality of citizens (article 186), etc.
108. Incitement to, or fanning of, national, racial or religious hatred,
cleavage or intolerance among peoples and national minorities living in
Yugoslavia is punishable with one to five years in prison. The commission of
this criminal act by the use of coercion, ill-treatment, endangering of