Written declaration No. 608 | Doc. 14102 | 23 June 2016

Stop the abuse of the state of emergency in France against the right to assembly and the right to strike

Signatories: Mr Andrej HUNKO, Germany, UEL ; Mr Boriss CILEVIČS, Latvia, SOC ; Mr Tuur ELZINGA, Netherlands, UEL ; Ms Ute FINCKH-KRÄMER, Germany, SOC ; Ms Annette GROTH, Germany, UEL ; Mr Matjaž HANŽEK, Slovenia, UEL ; Ms Lotta JOHNSSON FORNARVE, Sweden, UEL ; Mr Ögmundur JÓNASSON, Iceland, UEL ; Ms Ioanneta KAVVADIA, Greece, UEL ; Ms Filiz KERESTECİOĞLU DEMİR, Turkey, UEL ; Mr Tiny KOX, Netherlands, UEL ; Mr Ertuğrul KÜRKÇÜ, Turkey, UEL ; Mr George LOUCAIDES, Cyprus, UEL ; Ms Liliane MAURY PASQUIER, Switzerland, SOC ; Sir Alan MEALE, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Rasmus NORDQVIST, Denmark, UEL ; Mr Hişyar ÖZSOY, Turkey, UEL ; Ms Maria POSTOICO, Republic of Moldova, UEL ; Mr Georgios PSYCHOGIOS, Greece, UEL ; Mr António Filipe RODRIGUES, Portugal, UEL ; Mr Frank SCHWABE, Germany, SOC ; Mr Nikolaj VILLUMSEN, Denmark, UEL

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

In November 2015, France declared that it was going to take measures derogating from the European Convention on Human Rights to prevent terrorist attacks. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and the Parliamentary Assembly in Resolution 2090 (2016) and Resolution 2116 (2016) expressed concerns about this state of emergency, calling for it to be limited to “the shortest possible period of time and space”.

The state of emergency was misused to prohibit demonstrations of climate activists at the COP21, to authorise house searches and house detentions and to restrict the jungle of Calais, despite the lack of any relation to terrorism.

The state of emergency is now abused to prevent demonstrations and strikes against the “Loi Travail” organised by citizens, workers, unions and Nuit Debout in France. Activists are arbitrarily put under house detention and demonstrations are prohibited. Tear gas, rubber bullets and shock grenades are systematically deployed, whilst the political and judicial control is not promoting the evaluation of the necessity and proportionality of the legal and practical measures.

We condemn the abuse of the state of emergency and the threat of terrorism to violate the right to assembly and to strike, without due respect for the European Convention on Human Rights.