CRIF’S PRESIDENT CUKIERMAN MEETS HUMAN RIGHTS AND JUSTICE OFFICIALS

This visit was set in the context of the preparation of a report on the respect of human rights in the Council of Europe’s member countries.

The commissioner, surrounded by his staff, listened to the analysis of anti-Semitic phenomena given by president Cukierman, who was accompanied by Haïm Musicant, general director of CRIF, Emmanuel Weintraub, member of the Executive Board, and Elisabeth Cohen-Tannoudji, a CRIF officer.

The president of CRIF met with Joël Thoraval, president of the National Consultative Committee on Human Rights (CNCDH). The latter was accompanied by Michel Forst, general secretary of the Commission and by Gérard Fellous, former secretary and adviser to the President.

In the course of this meeting, at which were participating for CRIF Mr Michel Zaoui, member of the Executive Board, Haïm Musicant, General Director, Elisabeth Cohen-Tannoudji and Marc Knobel, the idea was brought up of reinforcing CRIF’s participation in the proceedings of the CNCDH which produces an annual report on the state of the fight against racism and anti-Semitism. CRIF has been called on every year since 2002 to give an analysis of the situation of anti-Semitism in France.

Jean-Claude Morin, public prosecutor for Paris, and Francis Cordier, deputy prosecutor, expressed their “willingness to listen and their availability” during a meeting with Roger Cukierman, President of CRIF, who was accompanied by a delegation consisting of Ariel Goldman, Marc Levy, Haïm Musicant and Joseph Roubache. While pleased that there has been a drop in the number of anti-Semitic acts, the participants agreed that it was not yet time to lower one’s guard. Among the additional beneficial measures identified as contributing to improving the situation, the participants mentioned improved information regarding court decisions in these matters, the setting up of citizen’s responsibility courses, as planned in the second Perben law, these including lessons on anti-Semitism and the Shoah.

Roger Cukierman expressed his pleasure at the good quality dialogue that CRIF maintains with representatives of the judiciary at all levels. On July 25, he met with Pascal Clément, the new Minister of Justice, who had stated he was in favor of a policy of trips to Auschwitz and other memorial places in order to deter and inform would be perpetrators of anti-Semitic acts.

Roger Cukierman reminded the Minister that on the initiative of CRIF, the National Magistrates School had on June 3 organized a first seminar dedicated to “the new faces of racism and anti-Semitism”. Marc Knobel, a researcher at CRIF, had taken the floor in the presence of some thirty magistrates to speak on racist and anti-Semitic propaganda on Internet.