The government’s response to COVID-19 raised human rights concerns, including in relation to excessive use of force by police, the right to peaceful assembly and the rights of migrants and asylum-seekers. Human rights defenders continued to face harassment and prosecutions. Following the murder of...

On the occasion of the forthcoming General Assembly of the French Basketball Federation on 14 October 2023, Amnesty International has called on the French Basketball Federation and the French Ministry of Sport, Olympic and Paralympic Games to ensure that rules regarding the wearing of sports head...

On 27 August 2023, in a prime-time television interview, Gabriel Attal, France’s Minister of Education, announced that he had decided that “the abaya could no longer be worn at school”. On 28 August 2023, just a few days before children in France were to re-start school after the summer holidays,...

These submissions are presented on behalf of Amnesty International (the Intervener) pursuant to the leave to intervene granted by the President of the Fifth Section on 27 August 2021, in accordance with Rule 44 § 3 of the Rules of Court. The Intervener has extensive experience researching state...

Meaningful policing reform and overdue reckoning with systemic racism in law enforcement urgently needed in response to public anger

On 28 June 2023, Amnesty International filed written submissions to the European Court of Human Rights in the case of CCIF v France. Amnesty International’s submission is motivated by a longstanding concern that freedom of association is subject to excessive restriction in many country contexts,...

Amnesty International filed submissions to the Administrative Court expressing its concerns regarding returns of Chechen asylum seekers and refugees to Russia, including risk of refoulement. Amnesty International is calling on the French authorities to halt deportations and extraditions to Russia...

In this submission, Amnesty International evaluates the implementation of recommendations made to France in its previous Universal Periodic Review, including in relation to the situation of refugees and migrants, arms transfers, climate justice and discrimination in the country. It also assesses...

Poster for Zineb Redouane’s Write for Rights campaign

Case card for Zineb Redouane’s Write for Rights campaign

France’s highest administrative court yesterday decided to uphold a lower court ruling which banned the use of full-body “burkinis” in Grenoble’s public pools after the city had proposed to allow women to wear what they want when swimming in its public pools.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Ligue desdroits de l’homme (LDH) and Salah Hammouri filed a joint complaint in France targeting the Israeli cyber intelligence company NSO Group, for illegally infiltrating the phone of French Palestinian human rights defender Salah...

On 24 February France adopted a new law aimed at democratising access to sports. A group of Senateurs ultimately failed in their repeated attempts to introduce a discriminatory amendment intended to prohibit women who choose to wear headscarves from participating in all sporting competitions and...