4 yıl önce

France urged to revisit security law to make it human rights-compliant

Newly proposed French national security bill has triggered protests, criticism from journalists, citizens and other human rights activists, because it will make it harder to document cases of police brutality.

AP

French police officers use force to detain a protester during a demonstration against France's controversial security law on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020.

The Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights, Dunja Mijatovic, has urged France to amend its controversial national security bill that limits filming of the police and police brutality.

In a letter addressed to the French Senate on Friday, Mijatovic said that the European Court of Human Rights acknowledges the crucial role played by the media in informing the public about the management of public demonstrations by the authorities.

"It considers that the infringement by Article 24 of the freedom to impart information is especially unjustified in view of the fact that law enforcement officers are already protected from such harm by many existing legal provisions," he added.

The article 24 of the proposed legislation, which is pending approval in the parliament, makes it an offence to show the face or reveal the identity of a police officer on duty in order to allegedly protect them from online harassment.

It has drawn criticism from journalists, human rights activists, as well as the United Nations for severely curtailing fundamental rights and press freedoms.

Some critics argue the bill is just a pretext to hide police brutality across France, especially during protests which have been widespread in France across the past two years.

Surveillance questioned

Mijatovic questioned the proposed surveillance in the bill via body cameras worn by security personnel, drones and accessing CCTV footage of public and private spaces, calling it violation of international standards of protection of privacy.

She said it was "crucial where possible to avoid placing the law enforcement agencies in situations of extreme tension’’ and "reduce the risks of abuse and excessive use of force.’’

The bill ignited nationwide protests which escalated further following gruesome footage of the French police violently assaulting and racially abusing a Black music producer.

President Emmanuel Macron described the incident as shocking.

Amid the blowback and national outrage, the Macron administration has agreed to submit a new version of the bill.

Police in Paris violently dispersed protesters who gathered in a demonstration against a controversial 'security bill'. Critics say the bill will limit civil liberties and journalistic freedoms pic.twitter.com/jsyGY7wi4v
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