“Hello anti-discrimination! » Seven judicial listeners respond to calls from 3928: the telephone can ring more than fifty times a day. “We are going to take a long time to listen to them, to try to put them at easeindicates a listener, because you can meet all kinds of people, in multiple states: angry, scared, hesitant. So we listen to their situation, and we do a quick legal review of the situation.”
Created a year ago, after the Michel Zecler affair, this black music producer attacked by the police, the anti-discrimination platform is celebrating its first anniversary. The objective, as its name suggests: to fight against discrimination, in all its forms, under the leadership of the Defender of Rights.
The law recognizes 25 types of discrimination: origin, disability, and state of health are the most often reported on the platform. “We will ask them questions, details another listener, to see if, through their story, we see discrimination, that is to say unfavorable treatment based on a criterion prohibited by law. Listening will be the key moment to detect whether or not there is this discrimination.
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In one year, the anti-discrimination platform received 14,000 calls, but listeners can also be contacted via chat, on the internet. This is what Mélanie did, witnessing discrimination, last summer, in Nantes. She came to the aid of a person who had been attacked: she called the fire brigade and her exchange with the operator did not go as planned.
“After barely a minute of talking, she asked me if the person was black. I was a little taken aback, and I said ‘no’. She then asked me if the person was of Roma origin, if she was well dressed.”
Mélanie, witness of discriminationat franceinfo
“I ended up getting upset and saying to him: ‘I don’t see how these questions can guide your diagnosis’ and he interrupted the call! Coming home after this event, I was full of anger”concludes the young woman.
After the first contact, it is a lawyer like Robert who takes charge of the file. “We can conduct the investigation with the respondenthe explains. This person is obliged to provide us with justifications to argue the reason for his behavior.
“It is an investigation carried out in an impartial manner respecting the principle of adversarial, we have a position of independent administration. We try to see if there are elements suggesting discrimination.”
Robert, lawyer for the platformat franceinfo
In the majority of cases, the settlement is made amicably. The average call duration is 20 minutes, “huge”according to the Defender of Rights, Claire Hédon, who praises the usefulness of the platform. “Our lawyers manage from time to time to fix the situation, simply by dialogue, by making a phone call to the author of the discrimination, often an employer”she points out. “This point is important, because what the victims of discrimination are asking for is to be restored to their rights”.
“With all the barometers and studies that we have carried out, we know the deleterious effect of this discrimination. Obviously on professional life, but also on family life, on access to housing, on physical and mental health. , and then on the cohesion of society.”
Claire Hédon, Defender of Rightsat franceinfo
Claire Hédon would like to go further by creating an Observatory and information campaigns against discrimination.