Anti-discrimination bureau in every Public Prosecution Department
On June 2007, the Ministry of Justice, Rachida Dati, presented her organizational reform of the French judiciary system. According to the draft text, an anti-discrimination bureau will be created within each Public Prosecution Department. Each anti-discrimination bureau will be composed of a magistrate and a delegate to the prosecutor. The magistrates of these bureaus will “go on the ground" to coordinate "a real local area network for the fight against discrimination" in close relationship with the world of associations/community life. The idea is to duplicate, in the framework of discrimination, the system of the referent magistrate (magistrat référent), who deal with the question of racisme and anti-semitism. Indeed, the creation of the referent magistrate enable to improve the legal answer to racist and anti-Semitic crimes, so the purpose of these anti-discrimination bureaus is to improve the legal answer to discriminatory practices.
On 27 September 2007, the Public Prosecution Department of Ajaccio (Corse du Sud) created the first anti-discrimination bureau, composed by a magistrate: Isabelle Herbonniere, Deputy Public Prosecutor and by a delegate to the Prosecutor: Jean-Claude Mensa. The bureau organized in October a first briefing meeting for 27 associations which fight against racism and discriminations, in order to aware them of the existing devices of fight against discrimination, of the law texts, but also of their role of popularization on the ground. The bureau also presented a model of complaint that can be used by the NGO or the victim when they want to lodge a complaint for discrimination.
