UN rights experts call for comprehensive revision of France security bill News
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UN rights experts call for comprehensive revision of France security bill

Five UN human rights experts released a statement Thursday calling for the comprehensive revision of France’s new global security bill that seeks to strengthen and reinforce “security continuum” in the country. The experts called the bill “incompatible with international human rights law” and said that the French Parliament needs to revaluate the purpose of the bill as a whole.

The bill contains several controversial provisions, such as Article 24 criminalising filming and publishing the image of a police officer on duty unless it has been blurred to remove any element of identification. Articles 21 and 22 increase police surveillance of public places through individual and airborne cameras which would stream images in real-time to police departments.

The experts welcomed the government’s decision to rewrite the wordings of Article 24 and to create an independent commission to review the law. At the same time, they insisted that a simple rewriting of the provision will not resolve its flaws: “These are very timely reminders that images of police abuse captured by the public play a vital role in oversight of public institutions, which is fundamental to the rule of law.”

They also cautioned that widespread surveillance in the name of security and counter-terrorism will have serious repercussions on the right to privacy,  freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly. They emphasized that the authorities should be mindful of the impact new technologies like facial recognition and large-scale collection of personal data can have on the exercise of human rights.

The UN experts had issued a letter in November detailing their concerns and offering technical assistance to the French authorities. They had requested information on the measures being adopted to allay concerns of human rights violations, the involvement of stakeholders as well as the precise terms and definitions being used in the law.

The bill has precipitated widespread protests for curtailing press freedom and condemnation from human rights organisations, civil liberties groups, and the European Commission. It was approved by the National Assembly last week and will be put to vote before the Senate in January.

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