AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2016/17

authorities did not have the capacity to
register all of the minors, and some were
allegedly turned away on the grounds of
presumed age without undergoing a thorough
assessment. On 2 November the UN
Committee on the Rights of the Child raised
concerns over minors in Calais who were left
without adequate shelter, food and medical
services during the eviction operation. As of
mid-November, about 330 minors had been
transferred to the UK.
Due to the lack of reception capacity and
resources to register asylum applications in
the Paris region, more than 3,800 asylumseekers
lived in degrading conditions and
slept rough for months in the 19th district of
Paris until the authorities transferred them to
reception centres on 3 November.
On 29 November, authorities rejected the
asylum application of a man from the wartorn
region of South Kordofan and forcibly
returned him to Sudan despite the risk of
being persecuted. On 20 November,
authorities released another Sudanese man
from Darfur who was at risk of being
forcibly returned.
The government pledged to accept 6,000
refugees under the EU-Turkey migration
control deal and to resettle 3,000 refugees
from Lebanon.
On 9 December the Council of State, the
highest administrative court, rejected the
decree signed by the Prime Minister in
September 2015 that authorized the
extradition of Moukhtar Abliazov, a Kazakh
citizen, to Russia for financial offences as the
extradition request had been motivated by
political reasons.
FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY
Frequent demonstrations took place between
March and September to protest against the
government-backed proposal to reform the
Labour Code, which was adopted in July. A
minority of demonstrators engaged in violent
acts and clashed with police.
Since the fourth renewal of the state of
emergency in July, the authorities were
expressly permitted to ban public
demonstrations by claiming that they were
unable to ensure public order. Dozens of
demonstrations were banned and hundreds
of individuals were subjected to
administrative measures, restricting their
freedom of movement and preventing them
from attending demonstrations.
On several occasions, police used
excessive force against protesters, including
by using tear gas grenades, charging at them
violently and using rubber bullets and sting
ball grenades that left hundreds injured.
DISCRIMINATION
Roma people continued to be forcibly evicted
from informal settlements without being
genuinely consulted or offered alternative
housing. According to civil society
organizations, 4,615 individuals were forcibly
evicted in the first six months of the year. On
13 July, the UN Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights called on the
authorities to provide adequate notice and
information as well as rehousing options to all
those affected by an eviction.
In October, Parliament adopted a law on
legal gender recognition for transgender
people. The law established a procedure
which allows transgender people to seek legal
recognition of their gender without fulfilling
any medical requirements. However, it still
imposes on transgender people some
requirements including a name change
or a physical appearance in line with
gender identity.
Several mayors adopted measures to
restrict the wearing of beachwear deemed
incompatible with hygiene and with the
principles of secularism and maintenance of
public order. In particular, authorities sought
to ban the wearing of full-covering beachwear
also known as the “burkini”. On 26 August,
the Council of State suspended the measure
in Villeneuve-Loubet in southern France,
deeming it not necessary to ensure
public order.
CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY
On 29 November the National Assembly
adopted a bill imposing a duty on certain
large French companies to implement a
Amnesty International Report 2016/17 161