Christiane Marie Taubira (; born 2 February 1952) is a French politician who served as Minister of Justice of France in the governments of

Prime Ministers A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but rat ...

Jean-Marc Ayrault Jean-Marc Ayrault (; born 25 January 1950) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2012 to 31 March 2014. He later was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2017. He previously was Mayor of Nantes from 1989 ...

and

Manuel Valls Manuel Carlos Valls Galfetti (born 13August 1962) is a French–Spanish politician who serves as Minister of the Overseas in the Bayrou government since 2024. He served as Prime Minister of France from 2014 until 2016 under president Françoi ...

under President

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

from 2012 until 2016. She was a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

National Assembly of France The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

for

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

from 1993 to 2012 and

of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

from 1994 to 1999. She won the

2022 French People's Primary The People's Primary () is a nomination vote launched by independent activists to nominate a common left-wing candidate for the 2022 French presidential election. The process involved two steps. Firstly, an online sponsorship of potential partici ...

, winning the right to stand as a "unity left" candidate in the

2022 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 10 and 24 April 2022. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a Two-round system, runoff was held, in which Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen and was re-elected as President of France. ...

. It was her second bid after the

2002 French presidential election Presidential elections in France, Presidential elections were held in France on 21 April 2002, with a runoff election between the top two candidates, incumbent Jacques Chirac of the Rally for the Republic and Jean-Marie Le Pen of the National Ra ...

where she failed to qualify to the second round after garnering only 2.32% of the votes in the first round. She dropped out of the race on 2 March 2022 after failing to get enough support to qualify.

Early life

Taubira was born on 2 February 1952 in

Cayenne Cayenne (; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Caye ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, as one of 11 siblings and raised by a single mother. Among others, she is the sister of French politician

Jean-Marie Taubira Jean-Marie Taubira (; born 15 August 1950) is a French politician from Cayenne. He was Secretary General of the Walwari party which he co-founded in 1993, later creating the Guianese Progressive Party in 2008. Taubira has considerable experi ...

, Secretary General of the

Guianese Progressive Party Jean-Marie Taubira (; born 15 August 1950) is a French politician from Cayenne. He was Secretary General of the Walwari party which he co-founded in 1993, later creating the Guianese Progressive Party in 2008. Taubira has considerable experien ...

. Taubira studied

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

at Panthéon-Assas University,

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

ethnology Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Sci ...

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

Paris-Sorbonne University Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; ) was a public university, public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Paris. In 2018, it m ...

and

food industry The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, ...

at the French Center for Agricultural Cooperation.

Political career

Early beginnings

Having served as President of the

Walwari Walwari () is a political party in the French overseas department and region of French Guiana, founded in 1992 by Christiane Taubira and her husband Roland Delannon.1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

served as a Deputy to the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

, being re-elected in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. Non-affiliated in 1993, she then voted in favour of the conservative

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Edouard Balladur to form a

Cabinet of ministers A cabinet in governing is a group of people with the constitutional or legal task to rule a country or state, or advise a head of state, usually from the executive branch. Their members are known as ministers and secretaries and they are ...

in 1993.

Member of the European Parliament, 1994–1999

In the 1994 European elections Taubira became a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP), being the fourth on the '' Énergie Radicale'' list led by

Bernard Tapie Bernard Roger Tapie (; 26 January 1943 – 3 October 2021) was a French businessman, politician and occasional actor, singer, and TV host. He was Minister of City Affairs in the government of Pierre Bérégovoy. He was the manager of a group ...

. In parliament, she served on the

Committee on Development The Committee on Development (Commission du développement, DEVE) is a committee of the European Parliament responsible for promoting, implementing and monitoring the development and cooperation policy of the European Union, notably talks with deve ...

(1994–1997) and the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media (1997–1999). In addition to her committee assignments, she was part of the parliament's delegation for relations with the countries of South America. In June 1997 Taubira joined the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

(PS), and then-

Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the French Socialist Party, First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and th ...

appointed her to head a government commission into

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from Alluvium, alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to mor ...

Guiana The Guianas, also spelled Guyanas or Guayanas, are a geographical region in north-eastern South America. Strictly, the term refers to the three Guianas: Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, formerly British, Dutch, and French Guiana respectiv ...

Career in national politics

Taubira was the driving force behind a 21 May 2001 law that recognised the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...

and

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

as a

crime against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

. In 2002 Taubira was a

Left Radical Party The Radical Party of the Left (, PRG) is a social-liberal political party in France. A party in the Radical tradition, since 1972 the PRG has been a close ally of the major party of the centre-left in France, the Socialist Party (, PS). Af ...

(PRG) candidate for the Presidency although she did not belong to the Party; she won 2.32% of the votes. After 2002 she became the party's vice-president. She was elected as its Deputy in the

2002 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2002. * 2002 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2002 Comorian presidential election * 2002 East Timorese presidential election * 2002 Fijian municipal election * 2002 Hong Kong Chief Executive election * ...

and chose to join the Socialists'

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

in the Assembly. In the Socialist Party's 2011 primaries, Taubira endorsed

Arnaud Montebourg Arnaud Montebourg (; born 30 October 1962) is a French politician, lawyer and entrepreneur who served as Minister of Industrial Renewal from 2012 to 2014,2012 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

. In addition to her work in national politics Taubira served as a Regional Councillor of

from 2010 until 2012.

Minister of Justice, 2012–2016

Taubira was nominated

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

, following the victory of

in the

2012 elections * 2012 United Nations Security Council election Africa Egypt * 2012 Egyptian presidential election Mali * 2012 Malian presidential election * 2012 Malian parliamentary election Senegal * 2012 Senegalese presidential election * 2012 Senegalese p ...

. At the time, she was one of the few black, female politicians within a prominent ministry in the French government.Aurelien Breeden (January 27, 2016)
French Justice Minister Quits Over Plan to Strip Citizenship From Terrorists
''The New York Times''. She soon emerged as one of the most outspoken and progressive voices in the government. Taubira was initially supposed to work with Junior Minister

Delphine Batho Delphine Batho (; born 23 March 1973 in Paris) is a French politician of Ecology Generation who has been serving as member of the National Assembly. She is a former Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy. As a candidate in the 2 ...

. However, their relationship quickly broke down being unable to share responsibilities. After the June 2012 Legislative elections, Batho was moved to become Minister of Ecology replacing

Nicole Bricq Nicole Bricq (; 10 June 1947 – 6 August 2017) was a member of the Senate of France, representing the Seine-et-Marne department. Early life and education Bricq received a degree in private law from Montesquieu University in 1970. Political ...

, leaving Taubira in charge of the Ministry of Justice. She resigned her position as Minister of Justice on 27 January 2016 after a disagreement with President Hollande over policies related to the treatment of French Nationals convicted of terrorism. In 2013, Taubira voiced her support for land reforms in France's Caribbean territories as compensation for slavery. She also formally implemented an important electoral promise of

and introduced

Law 2013-404 The law opening marriage to same-sex couples, no. 2013-404 (), commonly referred to as the Taubira law () after the Justice minister who introduced it, is a French law which, since 18 May 2013, grants same-sex couples the right to marry and join ...

, which legalised

same-sex marriage in France Same-sex marriage has been legal in France since 18 May 2013, making France the Legal status of same-sex marriage, thirteenth country in the world and the ninth in Europe to allow same-sex couples to marry. The legislation applies to metropolita ...

. In 2014 Taubira successfully defied opposition parties' calls for her to quit after it emerged that she knew former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

's phone was being tapped, apparently contradicting an earlier statement from her. She reportedly considered resigning in August 2014, along with other left-wing cabinet members such as

Arnaud Montebourg Arnaud Montebourg (; born 30 October 1962) is a French politician, lawyer and entrepreneur who served as Minister of Industrial Renewal from 2012 to 2014,the terrorist attacks that shook Paris on 13 November;

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

had taken charge of the constitutional reform draft law, which would normally have been part of her portfolio. One week later, she published ''Murmures à la jeunesse'', a book about this proposal.

Later career

Despite being urged to join the race by supporters, Taubira chose not to run in the Socialist Party's 2017 presidential primary, and remained neutral in the contest; following his nomination Taubira later endorsed

Benoît Hamon Benoît Hamon (; born 26 June 1967) is a French politician known for his former role within the Socialist Party (PS) and Party of European Socialists (PES) and his political party Génération.s. Hamon joined the Socialist Party in 1988 an ...

as the party's candidate for the

2017 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 23 April and 7 May 2017. Incumbent president François Hollande of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS) was eligible to run for a second term, but declared on 1 December 2016 that he wo ...

. In the second round of the presidential election she called on voters to rally behind

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

. Taubira formally announced her candidacy for the 2022 presidential election in January 2022 and won the " people's primary" intended to select a consensus left-wing candidate. By March 2022, the Constitutional Council published data showing Taubira had failed to win enough endorsements from elected officials to qualify for the presidential election.

Political views

Immigration

Taubira is a vocal critic of illegal immigration to

. In 2007 Taubira stated that "We are at an identity turning point. The ethnic Guyanese have become a minority on their own land" as a result of illegal immigration. In recent years Taubira has called for solidarity with

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s in

Metropolitan France Metropolitan France ( or ), also known as European France (), is the area of France which is geographically in Europe and chiefly comprises #Hexagon, the mainland, popularly known as "the Hexagon" ( or ), and Corsica. This collective name for the ...

Victim of racist attacks

Like other female ministers Taubira has faced many racist and sexist insults. Taubira allowed the Guyanese political party

Walwari Walwari () is a political party in the French overseas department and region of French Guiana, founded in 1992 by Christiane Taubira and her husband Roland Delannon.Front National The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right politics, far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and French nationalism, nationalist. It is the single largest Nat ...

who in October 2013 shared a racist cartoon comparing Taubira to a

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

on her

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

page. Leclère was sentenced to nine months in prison and five years of ineligibility by the court before the judgement was quashed on appeal as Walwari's actions were deemed invalid. In September 2016 the Paris criminal court, which had opened an investigation when the facts were revealed, found Leclère guilty of the crime of public insult and sentenced her to a suspended fine of 3,000 euros. In November 2013 the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the comments, which it considered as racist attacks against Taubira, in particular those on the cover of the extreme right-wing weekly ''

Minute A minute is a unit of time defined as equal to 60 seconds. It is not a unit in the International System of Units (SI), but is accepted for use with SI. The SI symbol for minutes is min (without a dot). The prime symbol is also sometimes used i ...

'', which featured her photo with the caption: "Clever as a monkey, Taubira finds the banana". The weekly rejected the accusation of racism, arguing that it merely used two French expressions, "the second of which - the part about the banana - is familiarly used to describe a person in good shape". The minister denounced comments of "extreme violence", denying her "belonging to the human race". The weekly's editor was sentenced to a fine of 10,000 euros for its front page on 30 October 2014. The public prosecutor's office appealed against the fine, saying that it was too lenient.

Honours

* In 2016, Taubira received a

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

in Laws and Human Rights from the

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

(

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

). * On 26 September 2016, she was awarded the Sash rank of the Order of the Aztec Eagle by the then president of Mexico,

Enrique Peña Nieto Enrique Peña Nieto (; born 20 July 1966), commonly referred to by his initials EPN, is a Mexican former politician and lawyer who was the 64th president of Mexico from 2012 to 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), he p ...

. *She was awarded a honorary doctorate (dr.h.c.) in Law from the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

(

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

) on 9 October 2020. * In 2018, Taubira furthermore received a honorary doctorate (DHC) from the Free University of Brussels (

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

) for her defence of diversity as France’s Minister of Justice under President

.ULB’s honorary doctorates
- website of the

Université libre de Bruxelles The (French language, French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the ''Plain ...

Personal life

Taubira has been married twice. She has four children with her second husband, Roland Delannon. They are divorced. Delannon is a separatist politician who founded the

Decolonization and Social Emancipation Movement The Decolonization and Social Emancipation Movement (, MDES) is a pro-independence political party in French Guiana. Platform The principal platform of the party is the demand for independence of Guiana, currently an overseas region and one of t ...

; he was jailed for 18 months for planning to blow up an oil and gas facility in the 1980s.

Books

* ''L'Esclavage raconté à ma fille'' ("Slavery explained to my daughter"), Paris, Bibliophane, coll. « Les mots à coeur », 2002 (réimpr. 2006), 165 p. ( et 2-86970-122-5). * ''Codes noirs : de l'esclavage aux abolitions'', Paris, Dalloz, coll. « A savoir », 2006, 150 p. () (introduction). * ''Rendez-vous avec la République'' ("Meeting with the Republic"), Paris, La Découverte, coll. « Cahiers libres », 2006, 195 p. (). * ''Égalité pour les exclus : le politique face à l'histoire et à la mémoire coloniales'', Paris, Temps Présent, 2009, 93 p. (). * ''Mes météores : combats politiques au long cours, Paris, Flammarion'', 2012, 551 p. (). * ''Paroles de liberté'' ("Words of Freedom"), Paris, Flammarion, coll. " Café Voltaire ", 2014, 138 p. (). * ''Murmures à la jeunesse'', 2016. * ''Nous habitons la Terre'', 2017, REY, 128 p. (). * ''Nuit d'épine'' ("Thorny Night"), Paris, Plon, 2019, 288 p. (). * ''Gran Balan'', Paris, Plon, 2020, 480 p. ().

References

External links

*
Page on the French National Assembly website

www.gouvernement.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taubira, Christiane 1952 births Living people Black French politicians Candidates in the 2002 French presidential election Ministers of justice of France French people of French Guianan descent Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour French LGBTQ rights activists MEPs for France 1994–1999 20th-century women MEPs for France Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University alumni Paris-Sorbonne University alumni People from Cayenne Politicians of the French Fifth Republic Radical Party of the Left MEPs Walwari politicians 21st-century French women politicians Women government ministers of France French Guianan women in politics Women members of the National Assembly (France) Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Female justice ministers Members of Parliament for French Guiana