Racial profiling by French police against minorities and Black people

 The French government's failure to address police racial profiling was acknowledged by the Council of State, the country's highest administrative court more than a year ago.

According to Human Rights Watch, the French government is adamant about doing nothing and permits systematic discrimination to persist. People who are the targets of racial profiling suffer greatly from this problem, which also deteriorates public-police relations.

Particularly young people of Black or Arab descent (including children) are targeted by French police because of their skin color or race. More police brutality, sometimes with fatal results, can result from these abusive controls.

French authorities continue to deny this fact in spite of the overwhelming evidence, arguing that discriminatory treatment is the result of a few bad police officers rather than a broken institutional framework. Human rights organizations claim that any chance for substantive change is stifled by this denial. 

Continuation of the French government's inaction

Despite the disgraceful inaction of several French governments, six organizations filed the first group action on racial discrimination in France's highest administrative court in 2021. They wanted the court to acknowledge systemic discrimination and mandate that the government take action to eradicate it.

 In October 2023, the French Council of State acknowledged that by permitting these methods to persist, the government of the nation is failing to fulfill its responsibilities. For the first time, France's highest administrative court determined that physical traits are used to verify a person's identity. However, the French government was not given an order by this court.

Police brutality in France

In recent years, the deadly violence committed by the French police has come to light more than ever before. This violence is primarily the result of the institution's institutional racism. Not a week passes in France without new footage of police brutality being released.

Critics call this process "deadly state racism" in France and call for an end to police violence that goes unpunished. Experts stress that the French legal system acts to protect police officers from punishment and starts criminalizing victims of police brutality in order to support the police institution.