Safeguards for Religious, Racial Minorities Guaranteed in Draft of French Constitution

Safeguards for racial, religious and national minorities are contained in the new Constitution being drafted by the French National Assembly.

Article VIII of the Bill of Rights drafted by the Constitutional Committee of the Assembly provides that no person may be harassed by reason of his origins, or his opinions, or his religious or philosophical beliefs insofar as their expression does not violate the rights “guaranteed by this Constitution.” Freedom of opinion, of conscience and faiths is guaranteed by the separation of the church and the State.

Under Article IX, every man is free to speak, to write, to express and to publish and, in general, to defend any opinion, but he must not use that right to violate the principles of the Constitution or “to prejudice unjustly the reputation of an individual or a group of individuals.”