54th session of the Human Rights Council Council (11 September to 13 October 2023)
UPR outcome of France
We, together with United Sikhs welcome the efforts made by France to combat stigmatization and discrimination against minorities since its last UPR.
We remain concerned about France’s policies on freedom of religion and belief, which are leading to a climate of religious intolerance, community withdrawal, hate speech and hate crimes.
As stated in our latest contribution to the OSCE 23 Report on hate crimes, the French policy act as a catalyst for intolerance, in violation of international conventions such as the Durban Declaration.
We recommend to France:
– that its institutions respect Article 18 of the UDHR,
– to end stigmatization and discrimination of religious and spiritual minorities by withdrawing the unfounded official reports labeling them as sects,
– to end the institutionalized system of denunciation through the Interministerial Mission against Sectarian Drifts (Miviludes),
– to reconsider the funding of NGOs that reinforce intolerance in France and Europe,
– to engage dialogue with all religious communities,
– and to review the 2004 law that also severely affects non-Muslim communities such as the turban- wearing Sikhs, who are also facing the ban in some schools on the small kerchief that covers the Sikh top-knot, since the recent ban on the abaya.
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