OHCHR: France must address racism and discrimination in law enforcement

After the death of the Algerian-Moroccan teenager Nahel M. at the end of June, thousands of people took the streets in Paris and other big cities to protest against police brutality and racism, leading to many arrests and more than 40 thousand policemen deployed to stop the riots. At the beginning of July, with the growing number of riots because of the assassination of Nahel, Ravina Shamdasani, OHCHR spokesperson, has called on France to admit its culture of racism and discrimination during law enforcement and to make sure that police forces work to quell violence with respect to the principles of “legality, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination, precaution and accountability”.

The formal investigation of voluntary murder launched against the police officer who shot Nahel is seen by Mrs. Shamdasani as the first step towards addressing deep issues of racism during law enforcement, but she also states that any other case of disproportionate use of force must be investigated as well, considering that, according to the French police regulator, at least 37 deaths have occurred in 2021 during police operations.

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