Civil Rights Groups Slam French ’Anti-Separatism’ Bill as Threat to Freedoms

"After the global security law, the draft law reinforcing respect for the principles of the Republic, the so-called ’separatism law’, constitutes an unprecedented attack on the foundations of our Republic and threatens our most fundamental freedoms. (...) We, associations, collectives, researchers and lawyers, organized in a coalition to defend and promote associative freedoms, wish to alert our peers, public opinion and parliamentarians," denounce, in a column published in Libération, some fifty signatories including Greenpeace, the Union of French Lawyers, the Union of the Judiciary and La Quadrature du Net.

According to them, the planned legislative restrictions will not only impact religious associations. They also denounce "the stigmatization that this draft law places on people of the Muslim faith, because of their supposed belief or origin, by making believe that this law would respond to security or ’living together’ issues." "How to avoid that the institutional obstacles to associative activities, already numerous, often abusive and ignoring the law, do not multiply against actors who intervene - often in a critical way - in the public debate?" question the signatories.

In the eyes of the associations, the draft law implies a strengthened control of the Ministry of the Interior over the associative world. "In line with the global security law, which expands police powers to new actors, Gérald Darmanin and the government would also like to make associations auxiliaries of the Ministry of the Interior by inserting a ’public order safeguard’ clause in the republican contract," they observe, stressing that militant actions remain legitimate and sometimes recognized as such by the courts in the name of freedom of expression.

According to the signatories, it is clear that the text "would be counterproductive and weaken the republican principles" if it were passed, and "would destabilize all the associations that are so essential in the face of the trials we are going through and for our democracy."