Overview

• FIDH, LDH and OMCT publish a detailed report asserting a deep, structural deterioration in France’s civic space since Emmanuel Macron took office in 2017.
• The report lists concrete mechanisms such as the roll‑into‑ordinary‑law of emergency powers, wider protest bans, arbitrary detentions and aggressive use of the ‘délit de groupement’ and dissolutions.
• It highlights the 2021 ‘separatism’ law and its contrat d’engagement républicain as tools that expand executive oversight of associations and ease dissolutions.
• NGOs quantify a surge in dissolutions, estimating about forty since 2017, including 27 during Gérald Darmanin’s tenure at the Interior Ministry.
• Authors describe intensified targeting of pro‑Palestinian activists and environmental defenders, and cite stigmatizing rhetoric, funding threats and concentrated media ownership—particularly outlets linked to Vincent Bolloré—as factors that chill civil society.