Daily Times

BRUSSELS: The Amnesty International in a report on Tuesday warned that a draft of new counterterrorism laws across Europe is discriminatory against Muslims and refugees, and was causing fear and alienation among them.

The human rights group made these comments in wake of the security measures adopted over the past two years in 14 European Union nations, which include expanded surveillance powers. During the last two years, militants have killed around 280 people in France, Belgium and Germany.

The attacks, for which the Islamic State has mainly claimed responsibility, have resulted in an increase in tensions over immigration and propagated the popularity of far-right parties. The attacks have also made security an important part of the rhetoric in the upcoming French, Dutch and German elections.

An Amnesty International official Julia Hall said, “Right across the EU regional space we see Muslims and foreigners being equated with terrorists.” Hall, an expert on counterterrorism and an author of the report, added “This stereotyping so disproportionately affects these communities that there is a high degree of fear and alienation.”

Hall pointed out that the extremely harsh surveillance measures as well as the powers of search, detention and arrest could be used against innocent activists and minority groups.

Amnesty’s report also added that new measures which target apologists of terrorism and militancy were leading to freedom of speech and expression being restricted. In France, more than a 100 minors were prosecuted for apologising for terrorism in 2015, it said.

In addition, the report condemned what it dubbed the “Orwellian” use of curfews, travel restrictions and police check-ins to monitor individuals who were not convicted of crimes and often did not know what they were accused of.

Hall also derided governmental actions which included “governments looking at a person and saying: ‘You look very suspicious to me. So I’m going to restrict your behaviour because I think you might commit a crime.'”

Attacks in major cities of the continent such as in Brussels, Nice and Berlin, which resulted in the deaths of more than 130 people have caused widespread anger and frustration in citizens, who view the influx of refugees and other non EU citizens as a primary factor in the incidences of violence.