French President François Hollande on Wednesday told French parliament leaders that he will seek a third extension of state of emergency powers introduced immediately after the November 13th terrorist attacks in Paris which left 130 people dead. The announcement followed two separate and fiercely critical reports published this week, one by the government’s own official consultative committee on human rights which denounced "abuses" and the "devastating damage" of the special powers the government has granted itself, and another by a panel of United Nations rights experts who said the measure had created “excessive and disproportionate restrictions”. Jérôme Hourdeaux reports.
The French National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (the CNCDH), an independent body which advises the government on rights issues, this week issued a scathing report on the “abuses” and “devastating collateral effects” of state of emergency powers introduced after the November terrorist attacks in Paris.
