France saw increase in all types of racism in 2023

Racism and intolerance are on the rise in France, fuelled by the Israeli war against the Palestinians in Gaza and far-right ideas in public debate, France’s human rights commission, the CNCDH, said in its annual report published today.

“The year 2023 was marked by a strong progression in the rejection of the Other, whether in opinions or in acts,” said the CNCDH.

The far-right National Rally (RN) is leading in the polls for upcoming legislative election, running on a platform that proposes restricting the rights of immigrants in France. According to the CNCDH, this is in “frontal opposition to the principles of equality, fraternity and freedom” enshrined in the French constitution, and will embolden racist opinions.

As Reuters has pointed out, the RN won 88 seats in the 2022 legislative election, becoming the second-largest party in parliament. It also won 30 European parliament seats in the EU election earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron’s government has shifted to the right on security, identity and immigration issues.

“The immigration law that was proposed by the government in February 2023 and contained echoes of [the RN’s idea] the ‘national preference’ and the debates surrounding it, amplified the xenophobic trend,” said the commission.

This “national preference” idea is that French people should be favoured for jobs, benefits and housing over foreigners. Sixty-nine per cent of French citizens do not support this idea.

The Gaza war has triggered a rise in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in France, as in other parts of the world. “The Israel-Palestinian conflict regularly triggers [anti-Semitic] acts, which peak in relation to the operations carried out by the Israeli army in Palestinian territories,” explained the CNCDH. “But this level is unprecedented.”

Reports of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim acts have increased in France by 284 per cent and 29 per cent respectively, while other types of racist acts increased by 21 per cent.

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