EU anti-terror laws target Muslims, human rights group says
Sweeping counter-terrorism laws introduced by several EU member states are disproportionate and undermine fundamental freedoms, according to a report by human rights watchdog published yesterday.
The Amnesty International report analyzed counter-terrorism legislation passed by 14 EU member states over the past two years and found that these laws often enhanced government powers to increase surveillance and restricted freedom of expression. During that period, terrorist attacks have killed some 280 people in France, Belgium and Germany.
The attacks, mostly claimed by the Daesh terror group, have fanned tensions over immigration, fueled the popularity of right-wing parties and made security a key theme in upcoming French, Dutch and German elections. Surveillance powers have been expanded in Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and elsewhere, allowing governments to access data from millions of people, the report found.
The report notes that the effect of such laws has been "particularly profound" on foreigners, ethnic groups and religious minorities.
"Right across the EU regional space we see Muslims and foreigners being equated with terrorists," said Julia Hall, an Amnesty International expert on counterterrorism and author of the report. "This stereotyping so disproportionately affects these communities that there is a high degree of fear and alienation."
Amnesty's report said new measures to crack down on glorifying or being an apologist for terrorism were shrinking the space for freedom of expression. In France in 2015, a third of more than 380 people prosecuted for apologizing for terrorism were minors, it said. Amnesty condemned what it dubbed the "Orwellian" use of curfews, travel restrictions and police check-ins to monitor individuals who were not convicted of crimes and often did not know what they were accused of.
Hall criticized what she described as "governments looking at a person and saying: ‘You look very suspicious to me. So I'm going to restrict your behavior because I think you might commit a crime.'"
Amnesty also warned that so-called "pre-crime" initiatives aimed at preventing terrorist attacks have led to the restriction on people's freedom of movement of many countries.
In January, France paid tribute to 17 people killed two years ago by terrorists in three days of violence that began with an attack on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
Among other major attacks, suicide bombings in Brussels last March killed 32 people, and a Tunisian man mowed down 86 by driving a truck through a Bastille Day crowd in July in the French city of Nice. Another truck attack killed 12 in Berlin last month.
The Amnesty International report analyzed counter-terrorism legislation passed by 14 EU member states over the past two years and found that these laws often enhanced government powers to increase surveillance and restricted freedom of expression. During that period, terrorist attacks have killed some 280 people in France, Belgium and Germany.
The attacks, mostly claimed by the Daesh terror group, have fanned tensions over immigration, fueled the popularity of right-wing parties and made security a key theme in upcoming French, Dutch and German elections. Surveillance powers have been expanded in Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and elsewhere, allowing governments to access data from millions of people, the report found.
The report notes that the effect of such laws has been "particularly profound" on foreigners, ethnic groups and religious minorities.
"Right across the EU regional space we see Muslims and foreigners being equated with terrorists," said Julia Hall, an Amnesty International expert on counterterrorism and author of the report. "This stereotyping so disproportionately affects these communities that there is a high degree of fear and alienation."
Amnesty's report said new measures to crack down on glorifying or being an apologist for terrorism were shrinking the space for freedom of expression. In France in 2015, a third of more than 380 people prosecuted for apologizing for terrorism were minors, it said. Amnesty condemned what it dubbed the "Orwellian" use of curfews, travel restrictions and police check-ins to monitor individuals who were not convicted of crimes and often did not know what they were accused of.
Hall criticized what she described as "governments looking at a person and saying: ‘You look very suspicious to me. So I'm going to restrict your behavior because I think you might commit a crime.'"
Amnesty also warned that so-called "pre-crime" initiatives aimed at preventing terrorist attacks have led to the restriction on people's freedom of movement of many countries.
In January, France paid tribute to 17 people killed two years ago by terrorists in three days of violence that began with an attack on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
Among other major attacks, suicide bombings in Brussels last March killed 32 people, and a Tunisian man mowed down 86 by driving a truck through a Bastille Day crowd in July in the French city of Nice. Another truck attack killed 12 in Berlin last month.
Last Update: January 18, 2017 01:06