PI's submission to the UN Human Rights Committee regarding France's compliance with ICCPR

On May 2021, we made a submission for the 132nd Session of the Human Rights Committee that took place between 28 June 2021 and 23 July 2021 in relation to France’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) before the adoption of the List of issues prior to reporting (LoIPR).

We called the UN Human Rights Committee to include in the list of issues to the French government the following:

1. Emergency measures taken in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and their impact on the right to privacy and other human rights (e.g. the use of CCTV cameras to monitor the wearing of masks in public places, or the use of drones to monitor compliance with lockdown restrictions);
2. The authorities’ surveillance powers, which infringe on the right to privacy and lack appropriate safeguards against abuse; and the Surveillance and “Global Security” Bills, which do not address these flaws, and intend to significantly expand these powers, including through the surveillance of mobile phones and telecommunications, the use of drones, and the lack of a ban on the use of facial recognition technologies; and
3. The difficulties faced by transgender people throughout the process of changing their identity documents.

See also page in French