A Belgian entity called Unia (The Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism and Discrimination) is preparing a criminal case against the philosopher Nathan Cofnas. If successful, a jail term of between six months and three years is possible under a new criminal code that came into force on 1 September 2026. Articles 250 and 251 of that code deal, respectively, with “incitement to discrimination or racial hatred (including denial of genocides)” and “dissemination of racial ideas.”
It is uncommon for a postdoctoral researcher in philosophy to be threatened with prison. What has Cofnas done? Unia’s complaint states:
This American philosopher is spreading a message in our country that would establish a hierarchy amongst human beings on the basis of so-called scientific knowledge, in order to justify discrimination based on origin or skin colour, or to promote forms of segregation. According to Unia, these statements contravene anti-racism legislation and the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). We reserve the arguments underpinning this action for the courts.
This reservation means that I cannot assess specific allegations or discuss their legal basis. Instead, I will examine the scientific claims at issue and distinguish them from the social conclusions often attached to them. Does the currently opaque case against Cofnas have intelligible moral grounds for such extraordinary possible consequences?
