France

France regularly reports hate crime data to ODIHR. Since 2012, DILCRAH has served as an inter-ministerial body and platform for co-operation to address hate crime, including through research and financial support to civil society organizations (CSOs). DILCRAH has worked with CSOs to train police and create a network of specialized investigators on hate crime. The Central Office for Combating Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crimes (OCLCH) is an inter-agency body composed of police officers and gendarmes that is mandated to expedite hate crime investigations and monitor and analyse relevant developments. Hate crime data are regularly published by the National Institution for Human Rights. France conducts regular surveys on hate crime victimization to measure unreported hate crimes.

SELECT YEAR

OFFICIAL DATA

Year	Hate crimes recorded by police	Prosecuted	Sentenced
2021	3,443	486	425
2020	2672	-	-
2019	2640	-	-
2018	1838	-	252
2017	1505	Not available	255
2016	1835	Not available	583
2015	1790	Not available	Not available
2014	1662	Not available	554
2013	1765	579	Not available
2012	2357	604	550
2011	Not available	Not available	431
2010	2	Not available	562
2009	Not available	Not available	579

About 2012 Data

Prosecution data include discrimination and defamation crimes.

Download official data

National developments

France amended all hate crime provisions contained in its criminal code to include sexual orientation.

A national action plan against racism and anti-Semitism for the period 2011-2014 was adopted in February 2012. An inter-ministerial delegation against racism and anti-Semitism has been established to monitor the implementation of this plan and to co-ordinate the ministries involved. The improvement of data collection mechanisms from both the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior is one of the goals of the national action plan.

KEY OBSERVATION

ODIHR observes that France has not periodically reported the numbers of hate crimes recorded by police to ODIHR.

Incidents reported by civil society, international organizations and the Holy See

Reports

Anti-Semitic hate crime

The International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) reported the case of 19 March murders of three children and the father of one of the children, shot outside a Jewish school in Toulouse. The perpetrator was killed by the police in the process of being apprehended.

LICRA reported a further case of damage to property against a kosher supermarket.

The Jewish Community Protection Service reported 96 incidents of physical violence, including a knife attack against a girl, three attacks involving spraying tear gas in the victims’ faces, an attack by a group causing serious injury to a man, and one attack by a group at school against one child resulting in serious injury; one case of robbery and physical assault resulting in serious injury against a Jewish man with significant disabilities; one case of blanks being shot out of a car at a rabbi and his congregation outside their synagogue; 172 cases of graffiti; 71 cases of vandalism; and two cases of arson.

Anti-Muslim hate crime

The Association against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) reported two physical assaults, including one against two men, and a serious assault against a girl resulting in her hospitalization; one case of graffiti on the home of a Muslim family; two case of threats with a gun; a case where a Muslim family found a pig’s head in the stroller of their baby; and a case involving a woman’s burka being pulled and ripped.

Hate crime against Christians and members of other religions

The Observatory on Intolerance Against Christians reported one incident in which Christian icons in public places were vandalized; three arson attacks against church property, including one against a nativity scene and two against a church; 12 incidents of damage and/or vandalism to church property, including one incident against a bookstore owned by a church; three incidents of theft of church property; and four incidents of cemetery desecration.

The Holy See reported four cases of grave desecration involving over 130 graves; and a case of church desecration.