two countries may have other significantly different national institutions, in the area of
anti-racism law, they actually had pretty similar policies. The common approach to anti-
racism shared by these two countries is why they were originally chosen for this study.
Fundamental law
Both countries enshrine the idea that all people are equal, regardless of their race,
in their fundamental law and make it illegal for the government to discriminate against
people based on their race. In Germany, this is found in Article 3 of the German Basic
Law (Constitution). This article outlaws discrimination by the state based on multiple
grounds including race (Rasse), and homeland or origin (Heimat and Herkunft).
Some
German legal scholars argue that Article 3.3 is applicable to private parties such as
employers, but there has been no court that has enforced such an interpretation of the
Thus, as German law currently stands, the Basic Law provides legal protection
from discrimination performed by the government only. In addition, many states also
provide such legal protection in their state constitutions.
Similar guarantees of basic
equality may be found in France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of
1789.
Laws Regulating Private Actors
In addition to the protection of the fundamental law against discrimination by the
government or public officials, both countries also have a large set of anti-racism laws
regulating all citizens. These laws are usually found in the criminal code, and thus are
31
German Basic Law.
accessed May 2005.
32
See MacEwen, 151.
33
Mahlmann, Matthias, under the guidance of Migration Policy Group for the European Union Monitoring
Center study on comparing national legislation in EU Member States with the Article 13 Directives, and
includes information from an earlier report by Dan Leskien. Germany country report p.11, Berlin, Bavaria,
Saxony, etc..
34
See the submission of the “Notificaiton de la transposition en droit interne français de la directive
2000/43,” submitted to the European Commission 18 July 03.
Convention