The Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination, adopted by the United Nations in 1965, has strongly emphasised “that any doctrine of superiority based on racial differentiation is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous” adding “that there is no justification for racial discrimination, in theory or in practice, anywhere”. But this struggle for the rights and dignity has never been achieved.  During an international colloquium organised by the University Paris X-Nanterre, in the context of the European Year against racism, this volume multiplies the legal approaches in order to better understand the phenomena of racism and xenophobia. This piece of work is divided in four wide topics: France facing itself, the French laws order against racism, international law against racism, the international community against racism… The participation of judges, lawyers, NGO activists, French and foreign experts -and especially of the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights- denotes the diversity of experiences and the breadth of input in this collective assessment with a view to the future.