SHAFAQNA- As the French Senate prepares to debate the ‘Republican values’ law tomorrow, Amnesty International is calling for the many problematic provisions of the bill to be scrapped or amended.
In a statement on Monday, Amnesty said the new regulations planned under the ‘Republican values’ law would lead to further discrimination against French Muslims.
“This proposed law would be a serious attack on rights and freedoms in France,” said Marco Perolini, Amnesty International’s Europe researcher. “Time and again we have seen the French authorities use the vague and ill-defined concept of ‘radicalisation’ or ‘radical Islam’ to justify the imposition of measures without valid grounds, which risks leading to discrimination in its application against Muslims and other minority groups,” Perolini said. “This stigmatisation must end”, AlJazeera reported.
The French Senate prepares to debate the so-called “anti-separatism” bill. The Senate debate on Tuesday comes after legislators in the country’s lower house National Assembly, which is dominated by President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist La République En Marche (LREM) party, voted overwhelmingly in favour of it in a February 16 vote. The conservative-led Senate is expected to approve the bill.