The Code Noir has been repealed
On Thursday 28 May in the National Assembly, MPs voted unanimously to repeal the Code Noir and all legislation governing slavery in the French colonies. These royal edicts from the 17th and 18th centuries had never been formally repealed by law since the abolition of slavery in 1848.
The bill tabled by Max Mathiasin, a Guadeloupean MP from the Libertés, Indépendants, Outre-mer et Territoires (LIOT) group, was debated in the Chamber from 9am. The text was subsequently co-signed by MPs ranging from La France Insoumise to Les Républicains, with the Rassemblement National not having been invited to sign. This repeal comes twenty-five years after the Taubira Law, which recognised the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity. Following the vote, the bill’s rapporteur was moved to tears and hailed it as “a further step forward, a tribute to the men, women and children who were enslaved”*. The Minister for Overseas Territories, Naïma Moutchou, stated that the Code Noir “has long since ceased to have any effect, but its mark and its weight are still there”, calling for “the removal of this disgraceful text from our law”.
*Comments gathered by our colleagues at the newspaper Le Monde
