FRANCE labelled as “excessive” remarks from a United Nations committee about the use of racial profiling by the nation’s police. 

On Saturday, French authorities disputed what they described as “excessive and unfounded” comments by the UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination, who had slammed the use of racial profiling and the over use of force by law enforcement during the recent widespread uprising in the country.

The committee, made up of 18 independent experts, said on Friday that France must “ensure that the investigation into the circumstances that led to the death of Nahel M near Paris is thorough and impartial.” 

It also called for France to “adopt legislation that defines and prohibits racial profiling.”

It said the authorities must address “structural and systemic causes of racial discrimination including in law enforcement.”

The committee said it welcomed the opening of an investigation into the circumstances that led to the killing of Nahel, whose death sparked an uprising across France.

The experts also condemned “looting and destruction of private and public property as well as reports of mass arrests and detention of protesters.”

But the French Foreign Ministry said: “Any ethnic profiling by law enforcement is banned in France,” and “the struggle against excesses in racial profiling has intensified.”