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...

This submission has been prepared by Amnesty International in advance of the UN Human Rights Committee’s review of France’s sixth periodic report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the ICCPR). This submission focuses on France’s obligation to respect and ensure racial...

Today’s European Court of Human Rights ruling against sex workers seeking redress for the infringement on their rights resulting from the criminalization of their work is a missed opportunity to better protect sex workers from abuse and violence, Amnesty International said.  In MA and others v....

Anna Błuś is Amnesty International’s Researcher on Gender Justice in Europe. Excitement is mounting ahead of the Paris Olympic Games, but in a country which proclaims its devotion to “égalité”, Muslim women athletes are being left out and discriminated against – simply because they refuse to give...

26 July 2024: the Paris Olympic Games begin. A moment of joy for sports fans around the world. A moment to embrace the values of Olympism: excellence, respect and friendship. But how can such values be embraced when the French authorities’ efforts to improve gender equality and inclusivity in...

The ban on French women athletes who wear headscarves from competing at the Olympic Games breaches international human rights laws and exposes the discriminatory hypocrisy of French authorities and the craven weakness of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said Amnesty International in a new...

At the 2024 Olympic Games, the host country France has banned Muslim women from wearing a sports hijab or any other form of religious headgear when they compete for France. Such a ban is imposed in several sports in France, including football, basketball and volleyball, in competitions at all...

On 24 May 2024, in advance of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, several human rights organisations wrote to the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ask the IOC to publicly call on sporting authorities in France to overturn all bans on athletes wearing the...

Across Europe, the right of peaceful assembly is coming under severe attack as states increasingly stigmatize, criminalise and crack down on peaceful protesters, imposing unjustified and punitive restrictions and resorting to ever more repressive means to stifle dissent, said Amnesty International...

Peaceful protest is a powerful and public way for people to make their voices heard. It has long been a vital means for advancing human rights around the world. However, in Europe, the right of peaceful assembly is increasingly coming under attack, with state authorities stigmatizing, impeding,...

In advance of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, several organisations are writing to ask the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to publicly call on sporting authorities in France to overturn all bans on athletes wearing the hijab in French sport, both at Paris 2024 and at all...

Responding to ongoing unrest in the non-self-governing French territory of Kanaky New Caledonia after the French Parliament adopted a bill changing the territory’s voting rules, Amnesty International’s Pacific Researcher Kate Schuetze said: “The state of emergency declared by the French government...

Chinese and Hong Kong students studying abroad are living in fear of intimidation, harassment and surveillance as Chinese authorities seek to prevent them from engaging with ‘sensitive’ or political issues while overseas, Amnesty International said in a new report published today. Students based in...