Press release
France: Don't sign genocide-denial law
ARTICLE 19
24 Jan 2012
ARTICLE 19 urges the French President Nicolas Sarkozy to reject a law banning any denial of any genocide.
“People must be free to examine and critically analyse history in order to learn from our past mistakes. By banning the discussion of certain issues and historical events, society cannot move forward. Criminalising free speech is anti-democratic,” says Dr Agnes Callamard, ARTICLE 19 executive director.
The draft law was approved by the French National Assembly on 22 December and by the Senate on 23 January. President Sarkozy must now sign the draft to make it law.
The draft approved by the National Assembly banned any denial of the Armenian Genocide. The Senate’s approved draft now bans any denial of any genocide.
The severe criminal sanctions – a one-year prison sanction and 45,000 Euro fine – will have a chilling effect on free speech and stifle historical debate.
The draft law violates international standards on the right to freedom of expression. If passed, the law would unduly interfere with an individual’s right to know and their right to free debate. It would elevate historical events to the status of an ideology.
A blanket ban on denying genocide or historical events, regardless of context or impact, goes beyond the established international law standards on incitement to hatred.
ARTICLE 19 has earlier commented on the draft law in detail >
