Watchdog urges France to review counter-Islamism bill over discrimination concerns

The appeal comes ahead of the bill's debate by the French senate on Tuesday. The lower house of the French parliament already passed the legislation in mid-February in the first reading.

"Amnesty International is calling for the many problematic provisions of the bill to be scrapped or amended. The proposed legislation would give the French authorities new powers to deny or withdraw funds to certain organizations. Against a backdrop of stigmatizing rhetoric about Muslims and Islam, there are serious concerns that the law will be applied in a discriminatory way," the organization said.

The watchdog specifically called out the bill's elements that obligate France to respect the rights to freedom of association and expression, as well as the principle of non-discrimination, urging the French government to ensure equal funding opportunities for all organizations.

"This proposed law would be a serious attack on rights and freedoms in France. It would allow public authorities to fund only organizations which sign a 'contract of republican commitment' – a vaguely defined concept which is wide open to abuse and threatens the very freedoms of expression and association the French authorities claim to stand for," Amnesty International's Europe Researcher Marco Perolini was quoted as saying.

The bill was presented in late 2020 in the wake of growing terrorist threat in France. Two notorious attacks occurred in October alone — a Parisian teacher was beheaded by a radicalized Muslim teen and three people were stabbed to death near a Nice church.

The legislation outraged some Muslim countries. The critics of the bill claim that the French government intends to use it to target religion, while its supporters say that it aims to promote respect for secular principles.