6. The Committee welcomes France’s creation of the High Authority to Combat Discrimination and Promote Equality (la haute autorité de lutte contre les discriminations et pour l’egalité, HALDE), which has the power to receive individual complaints and act on its own initiative to remedy problems of discrimination based on national origin, disability, health, age, gender, family and marital status, trade union activity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, physical appearance, surname, and genetic characteristics. HALDE is empowered, pursuant to Act No. 2004/1486 of 30 December 2004, to recommend statutory or regulatory changes to public authorities and to suggest settlements to private companies, and has described its activities in comprehensive annual reports.
Link to full text of the report: Concluding Observations-HRC-France-2008-eng