A/HRC/38/4 9. France had stepped up its efforts to put an end to the use of racial profiling, which ran counter to the Republican principle of equality and was banned under the Code of Ethics governing the National Police and the Gendarmerie. An effective remedy was available to individuals who considered that they had been subjected to racial profiling. The Court of Cassation had recalled that identity checks carried out based on physical characteristics associated with actual or presumed ethnic origin were discriminatory, and the use of that practice would constitute serious misconduct on the part of the State. 10. France had stepped up its efforts to combat discrimination in the sphere of education. The topic was a key element in the new syllabuses for ethics and civic education courses. France was determined to mitigate the impact of social and economic inequalities on academic success by implementing social diversity policies in approximately 40 districts and priority education policies in the most challenging neighbourhoods. Tackling discrimination in the workplace remained a priority for the authorities. 11. France had also made efforts to promote solidarity. The multi-year poverty reduction and social inclusion plan for 2013 had made it possible to integrate the needs of the most vulnerable members of the population into the design of policies on access to employment, health care, education, housing and support for families. The rise in poverty rates in France had been halted, and particular progress had been made in the area of emergency accommodation, with 30,000 additional places created since 2012. With regard to the issue posed by unauthorized camps and slum clearance or reclamation, France had made efforts to optimize effective access to housing, health care, employment and schooling: close to 9,000 people had secured housing or temporary accommodations, more than 1,700 people had found employment and almost 5,800 children had been enrolled in school between 2012 and 2016. The Planning Act, which was designed to achieve genuine equality for overseas collectivities, had facilitated the adjustment of legislation to take account of the specific needs existing in those locations. 12. In 2017, France had passed legislation on the duty of care held by parent and subcontracting companies in an effort to ensure that transnational enterprises are held accountable for their actions. France had adopted a national action plan for the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in April 2017 and ratified the Protocol to the International Labour Organization Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), on 7 June 2016. 13. France was working to cope with the global phenomenon of large-scale population shifts. Two major pieces of legislation had been passed since 2013. The Asylum Reform Act had established the independence of the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, strengthened the rights of asylum seekers, improved efficiency and reduced processing times. The Act on the Rights of Foreigners in France had strengthened the right to residence, buttressed judicial authority to exercise oversight of placement in custody and established the principle of prioritizing alternatives to detention. The Government was committed to further improving reception conditions for asylum seekers. The number of places in accommodations for asylum seekers and refugees had doubled since 2013 and was continuing to rise. The time frame for processing asylum requests needed to be shortened and the integration of refugees needed to be improved. Lastly, France had established a mechanism for the protection of unaccompanied minors present in its territory, irrespective of their nationality or legal status. 14. France was working to block illegal immigration channels and to stop human trafficking networks from exploiting people for the purposes of prostitution, forced begging or criminal activity and to put an end to degrading forms of work. Since 2013, France had strengthened its policy for combating human trafficking and established its first national action plan in that regard. 15. In order to address the problem of prison overcrowding, France had modified its prison policies since 2013 to promote the use of alternatives to imprisonment and the adjustment of sentences. A construction programme had been announced that would lead to the creation of 15,000 additional prison places and the renovation of existing facilities. GE.18-05727 3