Call for a boycott of Israeli products: France must apply ECHR ruling

LDH, FIDH and AFPS have referred to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, France’s failure to implement a June 2020 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

In a communication sent on 13 April 2021, the Ligue des droits de l’Homme (LDH), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS) referred to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – which monitors the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) – the highly questionable measures taken by the French government to implement a judgment issued by the ECtHR on 11 June 2020.

In its judgment, the Court condemned France by ruling in favour of 11 Alsatian activists who had been sentenced by French courts for calling for a boycott of Israeli products. The ECtHR ruling specifies that the call for a boycott for political reasons is specifically protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, the only limits to this freedom of expression being in cases of incitement to hatred, violence, or intolerance.

In a "dispatch" sent by the Minister of Justice to prosecutors on 20 October 2020, the French government issued a distorted and biased interpretation: far from recalling the primacy of freedom of expression, it merely asked prosecutors to better substantiate and qualify their prosecutions. It continues to deliberately conflate activist discourse, of which the call for a boycott of Israeli products is a part, with antisemitic speech or actions, which are unacceptable by nature and punishable by law.

Through their communication, LDH, FIDH and AFPS ask the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to intervene so that the French Minister of Justice’s dispatch be fundamentally revised. They also ask for the repeal of the so-called "Alliot-Marie / Mercier" circulars of 2010 and 2012.

Malik Salemkour, president of LDH, declared: "These activists’ civic-minded and peaceful call to boycott Israeli products enjoys protection under the principle of freedom of expression and does not constitute incitement to discrimination or intolerance."

Antoine Madelin, FIDH’s advocacy director, declared: "In France, like in any other country, activists’ expression must be protected as an integral part of necessary democratic discourse."

Bertrand Heilbronn, president of AFPS, declared: "The call to boycott Israeli products is an essential part of activists’ efforts in favour of the rights of the Palestinian people. France must fully comply with the Court’s ruling."

For more information, view the press kit here (in French).

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