A file photo of Afro-French protesting racism in Paris.

PARIS – Some French recruitment companies are applying racist policies and ethnic profiling in hiring jobseekers as they are used to filtering out non-white candidates, said the anti-racism group SOS-Racism.

Letters such as BYB, initials for blonde aux yeux bleus (blue-eyed people) and BBR, initials for bleu, blanc, rouge (blue, white, red) – the colors of the French flag -- are well-known codes in the world of recruitment companies, the group said in a new report, a copy of which was sent to IslamOnline.net Saturday, May 20.

"Recruitment firms are working in cahoots with employers by using these initials to filter out applicants," it said.

The group said it had filed several lawsuits against many French companies that used such racial profiling in recruiting employees.

On Thursday, May 18, the Beauty products giant L'Oreal was fined 45,000 euros for recruiting employees according to their racial origins.

The case began with a complaint by SOS-Racism based on a fax dated July 12, 2000, that detailed the profile of hostesses sought by L'Oreal to demonstrate new products in the Fructis Style line.

The instructions sought women 18 to 22 and "BBR."

But defendants claim that "BBR" was a code to show only the need for women who speak correct French.

Discrimination in Disguise

Michel Delier of the French human rights league (LDH) said such codes were used by some French companies in hiring employees.

"Many company officials use these means to paper over their discriminatory practices," he told IOL.

"They leave no trace behind them as these codes usually go unnoticed," he added.

Delier said the code BBC used by some companies in recruiting employees is similar to the title of an annual march organized by the right-wing National Front led by Jean Marie Le Pen.

Anti-racism groups say discrimination is widespread in the French job market.

A Sorbonne research released last year by the French Observatory Against Racism found that names and dark complexion represent an obstacle to jobseekers.

There is no official number of people of African origin in France as laws ban census based on ethnic or religious grounds.

But unofficial estimates indicate that Afro-French represent 10 percent of the country's some 70 million population.

Obstacle

Many French of immigrant descent complained that their ethnic and religious backgrounds were an obstacle to get a decent job.

"Despite being a French citizen, I'm sure that online recruitment companies take me off the candidate list for no reason other than having a dark complexion," Kristen, one of the discriminated-against jobseekers, told IOL.

Dozens of French Muslims and Arabs have changed their names to French ones to spare themselves police and employers' discrimination.

French Muslims and Arabs, estimated at some six million, are heavily concentrated in the Paris suburb of Saint Denis, the scene of deadly riots by angry immigrant youths last October.

Years of government negligence and marginalization have turned the northern Paris district, where half a million Muslims live, into a hotbed for unemployment and aberration.

The protesters took the streets to voice anger at racial discrimination despite being born in France, a lack of educational and employment prospects and police harassment.