Equality versus Fraternity? Rethinking France and its Minorities

The relationship between France and its minorities is complex. Recent events including the 2015 terrorist attacks, the prohibition on wearing religious symbols in public, or the 2005 riots, have been perceived as symbols of great tension in French society when its comes to its minorities.2 Indeed the ten-year anniversary of the riots prompted reporting that nothing had changed in the intervening period in the structures of inequality that caused them,3 while in January 2015, the French Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared that the country was facing a “territorial, ethnic and social apartheid”.4 This statement from the Prime Minister seems to be at odds with the overall policy of rejecting any targeted policies or laws to protect minorities in France. As a tradition France is against minority rights. French authorities have consistently rejected the use of the term ‘minorities���, and have banned any form of special measures for national, racial, ethnic, religious or linguistic groups.5

Minority-related activities in the United Nations System in 2013

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of a chapter accepted for publication in the European Centre for Minority Issues and The European Academy Bozen/Bolzano (eds), European Yearbook of Minority Issues, Volume 12, 2013 (Brill, 2015). The version of record is available at: http://www.brill.com/publications/european-yearbook-minority-issues In reviewing the activities of relevant UN human rights institutions, bodies and mechanisms this chapter identifies and examines some of the main issues that have emerged regarding minority rights during the year 2013. It notably analyses how the UN has focused particular attention on the situation and the rights of religious minorities, as well as on the elaboration of the post-2015 development agenda. The chapter also reviews activities in other issue areas important for minorities such as language, education, combatting racism, hatred and intolerance, and the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities. It highlights developments with regard to specific groups such as Roma, people living with Albinism and Dalits. It also examines some of the urgent situations that have arisen from conflicts which have targeted minorities across the globe.