The Baku Initiative Group has issued a statement on the ongoing protests in France.

Axar.az presents the statement:

“The Baku Initiative Group (BIG) is following with serious concern the ongoing nationwide mobilization of high-school students and young people in France, as well as reports of serious injuries, large-scale apprehensions and the use of potentially harmful crowd-control weapons against protesters.

The movement, which began in Créteil and subsequently spread across France, initially emerged around concerns directly related to the right to quality education, including shortages of teachers and other school personnel, deteriorating school infrastructure, overloaded schedules and dissatisfaction with aspects of the higher-education admissions system. These concerns have since developed into a nationwide youth mobilization involving high-school students, university students, teachers, parents and trade unions.

The scale of the developments warrants particular attention. By 8 October, the French Interior Minister reported more than 6,600 apprehensions, as well as injuries to 215 students and 89 education personnel.

Of particular concern are cases involving minors who have suffered severe injuries. A 15-year-old student in Lens lost a hand following the explosion of a stun grenade used during the protests.

The Baku Initiative Group firmly believes that the right to education, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, as well as the protection of children and young people from unnecessary or disproportionate use of force, are universal principles that must be respected without selectivity or double standards. Access to quality education is also one of the essential pillars of genuine decolonization, as it empowers societies to overcome structural inequalities, preserve their identity and build resilient and self-reliant institutions.

The Baku Initiative Group calls on the French authorities to ensure that all policing of demonstrations strictly complies with the principles of necessity, proportionality and accountability; to guarantee the rights of minors and young people to peaceful expression and assembly; to ensure effective investigation of cases involving serious injuries; and to pursue meaningful dialogue with students, teachers and their representative organizations.

France frequently claims to uphold the protection of human rights, democratic freedoms and human dignity as fundamental principles of its domestic and international policy. The consistent application of these principles must begin at home. Human rights cannot be defended selectively, and young people seeking to make their voices heard must be treated first and foremost as rights-holders, not as a security problem.

The Baku Initiative Group will continue to closely follow developments and calls for dialogue, restraint and full respect for fundamental rights.

Source: en.axar.az