Combating Discrimination: Good Practices & Awareness Raising

1. Equinet’s Seminar – November 10th 2016 - Fighting discrimination on grounds of race and ethnic origin • Workshop 3 : Good practices to combat discrimination on grounds of race and ethnic origin in the field of awareness raising – Experiences from the Defender of rights • Chrysoula MALISIANOU • Jurist at the Public service Pole • Defender of rights (France)

2. The French contextrequiringawarenessraising -For several years, the DR has observed that complaints of discrimination based upon a persons' origins represent the majority of cases of discrimination brought to his attention: - It is the first ground on which he is seized in total (22,6 % of the cases: annual report of February 2016 – First criteria for private employment cases and 2nd for public employment cases).

3. The French contextrequiringawarenessraising + The results of the 8th indicator report (of January 2015) on the perception of employment discrimination in France–DR/ILO(with a special focus on discrimination related to origin towards unemployed persons), confirm the scale of discrimination of that kind in France : - The unemployed non-European persons appear to be much more likely to identify their origin (64%) or their religion (32%) as a grounds of discrimination in hiring procedures.

4. The French contextrequiringawarenessraising - Among respondents whose appearance may reflect their foreign origin, 60% claim to have been victims of discrimination in hiring and report specificaly their origin as the first criteria of discrimination (47%). Similar trends are observed when the first or last name of the jobseeker enables to suppose an extra European origin. - Those facts fit into a general context in which racist remarks are becoming “commonplace” within spaces of public expression; - Such results recall the urgency to implement strong public policies related to awareness raising in order to fight efficiently against origin discrimination (for a better access to the law and alert on the main difficulties).

5. Tools for awarenessrising(Defender of rights) 1- Awareness tools for spreading the necessary information (access to the law) : a- Web platform against racism, b- Brochures and trainings, 2- Awareness tools to alert on important situations and react properly : a- Surveys : call for testimonies entitled “Young with ethnic background and hiring discrimination” + « Access to rights », b- Report on the fundamental rights of foreigners in France (to underline the difficulties encountered), c– Enquiries : Testing operations + research related, d- Data collection.

6. Tools - information : 1) a- Web platform against racism : -Launched in September 15th 2015 of a web platform entitled “Egalité contre le racism” (Equality against racism) accessible at : www.egalitecontreracisme.fr/ - The DR is associated to 42 partners (public partners - the CSA, the CNIL, Museum of Immigration History… - ; private sector partners - Casino, SNCF, La Poste, Aéroports de Paris, Google, Twitter, Facebook (…), and associations such as SOS Racisme, the LDH, the MRAP, the LICRA…). Theytransmitted him almost 85 000 media they use that enable them to fight efficiently against racism.  Since its launch, it has been largely used and the platform has been widely relayed via social networks.

7. Tools - information : 1) a- Web platform against racism : - The launch of this platform was motivated by the fact that the DR is regularly informed of many situationsfor ex. related to hate speech on Internet and in social networks, for which he has no jurisdiction but whose recurrence and severity call, in his capacity as Human rights Defender, an intervention, at least in a preventive way and in order to change practices and mentalities. - This is the case as regard to racist speeches or attitudes that don’t, for example, constitute discriminatory harassment, or situations where such talks would be held through the media but that don’t fall in his scope of action, while they sometimes can be considered as criminal offenses.

8. Tools - information : 1) a- web platform against racism : - The platform is therefore aimed at victims and witnesses confronted with racist remarks, discrimination and violence, by providing them with legal information appropriate to their situation, indicating pertinent means of remedy and available support. It aims at making the law and means of action in that field accessible to all (gathers all the relevant material), - It enablesanyone (the public and professionals) interested by the subject or a victim of racism and inequality to : Alert, Act and Defend oneself against racism :

9. Tools : 1) a- Web platform against racism 3 main sections :- The “I Want to Take Action” section : is aimed at those wishing to get involved by calling upon their company, community, school or class, or their professional or personal environment. The site provides them with ready-made tools, training materials, and contributions from third parties, films, guides (…), - The “I Want to Alert Others” section : is aimed at persons having witnessed racist acts or remarks, or who wish to report writings in the press, Internet contents, remarks or behaviours seen on television screens or heard on the radio (…), - The “I Want to Defend Myself” section : is aimed at victims of verbal or physical assault and racist behaviours, whether based upon their origin, religion or physical appearance. A page of results is given for each concrete situation, setting out the law, formalities, means and contacts.

10. Tools - information : 1)b-Brochures : - Their purpose is to allow people to identify possible discrimination against them, to inform them about their rights and the support they can get from the Defender of Rights. They’re very efficient. -Themes concerned (related to origin): - "Looking for a place to rent? Discrimination, what are your rights? », - « Employment and physical appearance » -« Fight against discrimination » -“Jobseekers, make sure your rights are respected” (…).

11. Tools - information : 1)b-Trainings : - Are tailored to professional realities and directed to a wide and varied public : police officers, civil servants of National Education, judges, employees of businesses or administrations, students…some concern specificaly discrimination due to origin. - In order to increase the impact of these actions, the DR has implemented a very usefull training : « training of trainers strategy »(« formation de formateurs”).

12. Tools – Surveys : 2)a-Call for testimonies « Young with ethnic background and hiring discrimination » : - On the occasion of theInternational Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21st (2016), the DR launched a call in order to obtain testimonies from young people that feel or have been discriminated on the ground of their origin in accessing to work and internships. -It has taken the form of an online questionnaire/survey of 20 questions, accessible from the home page of the DR website for 3 months (until June 21st). -This initiative is part of the idea that persons, especially young people with no experience, whose names or skin color may suggest a foreign origin encounter more difficulties than others to access to employment.

13. Tools – surveys : 2)a-Call for testimonies « Young with ethnic background and hiring discrimination » : - The aim of this action is to collect data illustrating situations of discrimination faced by these young people but also to let them know about the possibilities of interventions of the DR and invite them to seize him. -It will also lead to a campaign on social networks named "5 minutes to make your voice heard" as well as sustained actions towards the media. - Results : - More than 13,000 people visited the site + 758 responded, - While the campaign targeted young people aged 18 to 35 years, people over 35 years old (until 65) also expressed their experience,

14. Tools - surveys : 2)a-Call for testimonies « Young with ethnic background and hiring discrimination » : - The majority were French nationals (80% of which are binational) with a foreign-sounding name (78%), half declaring be seen as Arabs (48%) and Muslims (54%). - Discrimination related to origin during research of internships or employment occurs "often" or "very often" for over 60% of the respondents - While 80% of respondents are of French nationality. - But less than 1 person in 10 has taken steps to recognize his rights (problem of under-reporting).

15. Tools - surveys : 2)a- Survey on “Access to rights” : - The aim of the survey launched by the DR on January 2016 – towards 5 000 people all over France through a questionnary of 30-40 min by taking into account notably their origin (place of birth, nationality of parents), religion, place of residence (…) -is to measure, for each of his areas of intervention, the reputation/knowledge of the DR, the importance of situations of inequality experienced by the public and their knowledge of the existing remedies, - Results – on January 2017 - will be very interesting since the DR will be able to know the “type” of claimants (profiles) that seize him and the ones that do not - He will therefore be able to improve his awareness raising actions towards certain publics (which will most likely be persons with a foreign origin).

16. Tools - reports: 2)b-Report of May 2016 on the fundamental rights of foreigners in France (to alert on their situation) : (mostly third country citizens) - The DR mainlyreported: -that there are still many lacks in domestic law that is applied to foreigners leading to forbidden discriminations related notably to origin in accessing to education, healthcare, housing (…), - that conditions of entry, residence (rights of foreigner residing in France) as well as conditions of removal are often too restrictive and leading to a lack of respect of their fundamental rightsas protected by the ECHR, - and that in practice, there is also an important lack of protection of foreign minors that come to France alone or even accompanied. + Creation of a specific service within the DR : “Basic rights of foreigners”

17. Tools – enquiries : 2)c)Testing operations : - The DR mainly uses them for cases of discrimination related to origin in accessing to goods and services(access to healthcare, housing, shops…) andfor private employment cases, - Only used in criminal discrimination cases since it’s the only field where these procedures can be implemented to prove a prohibited discriminatory behavior (art. 225-3-1 of the French criminal code), - Testing operations enable to detect the existence of a discriminatory behavior often hidden behind wrong reasons (ex: the apartment is already rented ...). They are very important in criminal discrimination cases where the burden of proof is not lightened in French law.

18. Tools - enquiries : 2) c)Testing operations : - Test operations can take place directly in the field(for example: nightclubs, taxis…), through telephone (for example: respond to a rental add…), or through Internet (for example: subscribe a health insurance…). - Their aim is to compare the attitude towards a reference candidate and a candidate potentially discriminable which is distinguished only by age, actual or supposed origin, gender, (...). - At the DR, tests are conducted by agents specially empowered by the Prosecutor to establish, for example, an infringement of anti-discrimination law.

19. Tools - enquiries : 2) c)Testing operations : + Aresearch : “Discrimination in hiring process : inquiry by testing” (Discriminations à l’embauche liées à l’origine: enquête par testing”) was ordered in May 2016 by the ministry of labor to the DARES public institute for research and statistics, in which the DR has contributed to the steering committee. - It aims at showing the differences in treatment through recruitment procedures of the tested companies (45 with 1 000 employees) by sending fictitious applications comparable in terms of skills required but different in terms of socio-demographic profiles(foreign-sounding names…).  The results will be soon available.

20. Tools : 2) d)Data collection : - In May 2012, the DR released a methodological guide targeted at employers in collaboration with the national data protection authority (CNIL) entitled “Measure to progress towards equal opportunities”. - The main idea of that guide is that collecting and measuring data is necessary in fighting efficiently discrimination, even if in current French law collecting data based directly on ethnic origin is in principle forbidden, as are positive action measures based on that ground. - The aim of the guide is therefore to explain to employers how to establish indicators for reliable measurement of discrimination in order to allow them to promote equality in compliance with the law - Important tool also.

21. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION !