The Defender of Rights is concerned about a “trivialization of rights violations” in her annual report

The number of complaints to this independent authority is increasing by 10% in 2023. They mainly concern relations with public services.

The year 2023 was marked by “a trivialization of rights violations” and a weakening “worrying” of the rule of law, worries the Defender of Rights, Claire Hédon, in her annual report, published Tuesday March 26.

The independent authority, responsible in particular for defending the rights of citizens vis-à-vis the administration, deplores “a gap that has been built between users and the public service” : “We are told: ‘It is improving’, but what I see is that we are having more and more referrals, which is not at all reassuring”, declared Claire Hédon to AFP. The Defender of Rights received, in 2023, 137,894 complaints, or 10% more than the previous year, the majority of which (more than 92,400) concern relations with public services.

The other complaints are mainly linked to the fight against discrimination, children’s rights, the ethics of security forces and the protection of whistleblowers. This “fragility” Rights “is not new, but it is part of an underlying trend with a form of acceleration”, summarizes Claire Hédon. Concerning the rights of the child, she alerts “the extremely worrying situation of children requiring protection due to the lack of places in homes and family assistants, unfulfilled placements and breaks in pathways”.

Reforms having “restricted” certain rights

In her report, the Defender of Rights points to several legislative or regulatory reforms having “restricts the benefit of certain rights”such as the law “for full employment”, the Kasbarian law “aimed at protecting housing against illegal occupation” or the law on immigration. “We are putting already very vulnerable populations in even more difficulty”believes Claire Hédon.

To this are added “words and actions by which court decisions have been called into question or criticized”. Phenomena which “there is nothing anecdotal” and who translate “a very worrying weakening of the authority of the judge and, beyond that, of the rule of law”, according to the report. The independent authority cites as an example “the exploitation of the Constitutional Council which was asked to sanction legislative provisions despite their manifest unconstitutionality” under immigration law.

The Defender of Rights also deplores “the increasingly significant non-execution of court decisions, including those adopted by the highest courts”. Non-execution “in matters of enforceable right to housing (Dalo) or access of foreigners to prefectures” is for her part, “in some regions, a constant”she denounces.

“Persistent discrimination”

Restrictions on freedoms of expression, demonstration and association continued in 2023. The authority says it has been contacted “nearly 170 complaints calling into question the ethics of security forces in maintaining order” during demonstrations against pension reform. “These repeated referrals (…) can dissuade people from going to demonstrate and thus restrict the possibility of using the demonstration as a vector for contesting public decisions”she is alarmed.

Other sources of concern, the restrictive measures observed in 2023 and which prevented “certain people in a precarious situation to access their rights”. The independent authority cites in particular the prefectural decree taken in October 2023 prohibiting all food distribution in a Parisian sector for one month.

Precarious people also have to deal with “persistent discrimination”particularly in the area of ​​access to care. “There are still today discriminatory refusals of care to people who benefit from complementary solidarity health insurance”notes the report.