Permanent Emergency Powers in France: The ‘Law to Strengthen Internal Security and the Fight Against Terrorism’ and the Protection of Human Rights
On November 1, 2017, France introduced a new Counter-Terrorism Law ending a two-year state of emergency and making many of the exceptional measures taken under the state of emergency permanent law. Taking into account past practices of ethnic profiling displayed by the French police, the passing of the law constitutes a worrisome development and raises a number of concerns about France’s compliance with its human rights obligations. The paper discussed these implications of the new law in the wider context of counter-terrorism trends.
Keywords: counter-terrorism, ethnic profiling, human rights, state of emergency