French government plans to legalise race statistics

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said efforts to help minorities in the country are being hampered by a lack of data.



The government is planning to legalise statistics on ethnic origin in an effort to tackle discrimination.



Anti-racism activists and politicians have rejected the proposal, citing France\'s integration model about citizens being equal and free from distinctions of class, race or religion.



A recent six-week-long general strike against poverty in the French West Indies revealed deep divisions between blacks and whites.



Supporters of the proposal say French citizens born in overseas territories like Guadeloupe are majority black and there is no way of reflecting that in statistics.