18 January 2017•Update: 18 January 2017
By Rahmi Gunduz
PARIS
The human rights organization Amnesty International has criticized European states for adopting “dangerously disproportionate” security laws and counter-terrorism efforts over the past two years.
In a new report, the body examined 14 EU countries, raising alarm that heightened or disproportionate security in Europe is becoming the "new normal".
According to the 70-page report released on Tuesday, hundreds of people were killed and wounded in a spate of attacks in EU states between January 2015 and December 2016. France, Belgium and Germany were among the countries targeted.
However, the report said the need to protect people from such violence was obvious but said governments needed to uphold human rights.
"The last two years, however, have witnessed a profound shift in paradigm across Europe: a move from the view that it is the role of governments to provide security so that people can enjoy their rights, to the view that governments must restrict people’s rights in order to provide security," Amnesty claimed.
"The result has been an insidious redrawing of the boundaries between the powers of the state and the rights of individuals," the report added.
According to the body, expanded surveillance powers also caused discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities.
"Men, women and children have been verbally and physically abused. Passengers have been removed from planes because they 'looked like a terrorist'," Amnesty said.
"Women have been banned from wearing a full-body swimsuit on the beach in France. Refugee children in Greece have been arrested for playing with plastic guns," said the report.
It also expressed fears about the rise of far-right nationalist parties, anti-refugee sentiment, stereotyping and discrimination against Muslims.
