A United Nations human rights body strongly criticized France this week, denouncing what it deemed a marked growth in racism and xenophobia. Meeting with French representatives on Wednesday and Thursday, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, based in Geneva, expressed particular concern over a government-led “debate on the national identity,” President Nicolas Sarkozy’s proposal to withdraw citizenship from certain foreign-born criminals, and a recent decision to dismantle 300 unauthorized Roma encampments. “It’s time you made your dreams of equality and fraternity a reality,” said the committee’s vice chairman, Pierre-Richard Prosper, Le Monde reported. On Thursday, Pierre Lellouche, French minister for European affairs, said the government’s actions were meant to guarantee the “first of human rights, which is the right to safety.”