The New French Law Against Racial Discrimination and Anti-Semitism

Abstract

Great efforts have been made during the last decade to combat all forms of racial discrimination and anti-semitism, by legislation as well as on the social plain. On an international level, special conventions have been adopted, and some countries such as the United States, Great Britain, and Austria have, in addition, adopted special provisions to deal with their own specific problems. The growing number of foreigners who now come to work (Arabs, Africans, Portuguese, Italians, Greeks, Turks etc.) in Western Europe, have aggravated the ever present tradition of racism and anti-semitism, and have produced new forms of racial discrimination. In 1972, France widened the legislation which had been initiated in 1939. A number of cases have already been decided by French courts applying the 1972 law and in this article we will discuss its practical application.