![\"MyFrenchLife\u2122](\"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-content\/uploads\/640px-Western_Europe_France_Paris_November_15_2015.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
France\u2019s state of emergency has now lasted for almost a year. Rolling renewals and escalating policies have caused the UN to condemn France for \u201cexcessive restrictions on human rights\u201d. It\u2019s time we asked some serious questions about the state of emergency.<\/strong><\/p>\n Fran\u00e7ois Hollande announced the state of emergency following the November 2015 Paris attacks for what was meant to be a three-month period. However, after subsequent attacks such as in Nice, he has repeatedly renewed the emergency period. The temporary state is now on its third extension.<\/p>\n According to legal expert Geraldine Bovi-Hosy<\/a>, it is an \u201cexceptional system that enables the government to put in place one-off measures due to a crisis situation\u201d.<\/p>\n Of course, the aim of a state of emergency is to protect the population, but often they come with compromises in civil liberties and potentially dangerous powers.<\/p>\n Human Rights groups and other bodies have increasingly raised concerns about how authorities are using emergency powers.\u00a0The UN\u2019s warning<\/a> about France\u2019s infringement on Human Rights came following the November 2015 law that allowed surveillance of ordinary citizens’ electronic devices.<\/p>\n This is not the only law which has been condemned by the international organisation. Included in the package of counter-terror laws, children as young as 16 can now be left in detention without trial for up to two years<\/a>, and even three years for certain crimes.<\/p>\n This is in direct contradiction of international norms for the detention of children. The UN Children\u2019s Rights Committee states<\/a> that the \u201cuse of pre-trial detention as a punishment violates the presumption of innocence\u201d.<\/p>\n Controversially, emergency laws<\/a> also allow police to conduct raids on the homes of terror-related suspects without authorisation from a judge. Reports of these \u2018administrative\u2019 searches reveal their intimidating and aggressive nature; in one case, a small girl was injured after being struck in the head during a forced entry.<\/p>\n Muslims in particular say they feel stigmatized by these searches. Samir Oueldi, a freelance developer told<\/a> the New York Times how he feels like \u201chis country has stabbed him in the back\u201d after experiencing a traumatizing unwarranted search one night.<\/p>\n Some disturbing cases show how state of emergency laws are even being used to shut down peaceful political action. The site Paris-Luttes<\/a> details how, in the run-up to the COP 21 summit last November, numerous environmental activists who were planning to protest at the meeting were placed under house arrest. Following the protest at Place de la R\u00e9publique, police also arrested 342 people for \u201ctaking part in a banned demonstration\u201d.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to ignore the sinister implications involved in France\u2019s state of emergency. Socialist politician Dominique Raimbourg said<\/a> the situation was \u201cevolving from a state of emergency aimed at fighting terrorism to a state of emergency aimed at maintaining public order\u201d. The French President of the Bar Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Sicard went further to say<\/a>: \u201cFrance could turn into a dictatorship in a week\u201d.<\/p>\n Despite these concerns, a majority of French people believe the measures to be necessary. In a 2015 Ifop survey, 84% of French people<\/a> said they were prepared to restrict their liberties in exchange for further security.<\/p>\n By June 2016, after heightened security failed to prevent further attacks in Nice and Rouen, public approval decreased, but not dramatically. 47% of Ifop respondents<\/a> believed the state of emergency was effective in preventing terrorism.<\/p>\n Are the 53% right in thinking that the state of emergency was ineffective? Indeed a parliamentary inquiry<\/a> found that France\u2019s broader powers only had a \u201climited impact\u201d on preventing terrorism. Out of 4000 searches, only 7% went to court<\/a>.<\/p>\n The inquiry also questioned the value of Operation Sentinelle \u2013 the deployment of 10 000 soldiers to patrol the streets across France. Although the Operation has a high approval rating among French people, many see it more as a cosmetic approach to reassure tourists than a serious counter-terror strategy.<\/p>\n A French general<\/a> recently compared Operation Sentinelle to the Maginot defence line<\/a> in World War II, which German troops simply dodged around.<\/p>\n Armed guards in key tourist spots may protect those areas, but as shown by the November attacks \u2013 carried out on the small Bataclan venue and bars chosen at random \u2013 access to high-profile targets is not necessary for terrorism to happen on a large scale.<\/p>\n If France\u2019s emergency measures are both illiberal and not effectively combatting terrorism, why is there not more outrage? There have been protests<\/a>; in March, thousands came together in Paris chanting: \u201cthe state of emergency is a coup\u201d. However, according to the same 2016 Ifop survey, 86% of French people still want the state of emergency to continue and the majority actually support a strengthening of powers.<\/p>\n It seems that measures that were once exceptional eventually become normalised into daily life. Ulrich Beck<\/a> calls it a \u2018Risk Society\u2019 when this kind of hyper-security attitude permeates life to the point where a society is governed by fear, uncertainty and risk-awareness.<\/p>\n France shows worrying signs that it doesn\u2019t expect to be ending the state of emergency any time soon. In February, the French parliament passed a vote<\/a> to amend the constitution to allow terror suspects of dual-nationality to be stripped of their French citizenship \u2013 enshrining an exceptional policy into the constitution.<\/p>\n French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said<\/a> in January that the state of emergency would last \u201cuntil we can get rid of Daesh\u201d; a goal that he had previously asserted<\/a> would \u201ctake a generation\u201d. Is France really prepared to accept a generation or more of these emergency measures?<\/p>\n Alterations to the constitution and human rights infringements mark the beginning of a path France has trodden before during the Algerian War<\/a>. Terrorism is a threat, but so is a government with a sweetshop of extra-judicial powers. France and other countries implementing similar policies should remember that a state of emergency isn\u2019t built to last.<\/p>\n Do you think France\u2019s state of emergency has been effective in preventing terrorism? Do you think the French government is taking it too far? <\/strong>Join the debate in the comments box below.<\/p>\n What started as a temporary shut down after the Paris attacks risks spiralling out of control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11612,"featured_media":81817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[1120,1119],"tags":[2743,4996,2750,4997,3005,4998,4318,4999,213,4539,5000,235,4985,5001,281,4986,5002,354,4987,5003,366,4988,5004,388,4989,5005,1176,4990,5006,1625,4991,5007,1700,4992,2041,4993,2568,4994,2636,4995],"class_list":["post-81815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-beyond","category-reportage-and-societe","tag-charlie-hebdo-attacks","tag-operation-sentinelle","tag-cop21","tag-the-bataclan","tag-terror-attack","tag-ulrich-beck","tag-rouen","tag-security","tag-france","tag-the-algerian-war","tag-racism","tag-french-government","tag-state-of-emergency","tag-islamophobia","tag-in-english","tag-november-2015","tag-counter-terror","tag-nice","tag-paris-attacks","tag-the-war-on-terror","tag-paris","tag-the-un","tag-french-constitution","tag-politics","tag-surveillance","tag-isis","tag-french-politics","tag-dominique-raimbourg","tag-daesh","tag-francois-hollande","tag-place-de-la-republique","tag-human-rights","tag-french-law","tag-dictatorship","tag-french-society","tag-ifop","tag-french-protesting","tag-french-parliament","tag-world-war-ii","tag-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11612"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What does the term \u2018state of emergency\u2019 <\/span>mean?<\/span><\/h3>\n
An abuse of powers
![\"MyFrenchLife\u2122](\"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-content\/uploads\/urgence-circle-crop.jpg\")
<\/span><\/h3>\nState of emergency or surveillance state?<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"MyFrenchLife\u2122](\"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_20161005_125702460_720.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhat do the French think?<\/span><\/h3>\n
A \u2018limited impact\u2019<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"MyFrenchLife\u2122](\"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-content\/uploads\/640px-Paris_Shootings_-_The_day_after_22593744177.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe new normal<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"MyFrenchLife\u2122](\"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-content\/uploads\/Toulouse_contre_l\u00e9tat_durgence-0314.jpg\")
Generation emergency<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\nImage credits:<\/span>
\n 1. ‘State of emergency in Paris 2015’, Mystylav Chernov via<\/span> Wikimedia<\/a>
\n2. ‘\u00c9tat d’urgence _DDC2712’, Thierry Ehrmann via Flickr\u00a0<\/a>
\n3. ‘State of emergency or surveillance state, poster Paris 2016’, courtesy of Rose Trigg
\n4. ‘Une banderole \u00e9tudiante \u00e0 la manifestation toulousaine pour la sortie de l’\u00e9tat d’urgence’, Gryostat via Wikimedia<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"