UN expert says the state must retain the duty to investigate potentially unlawful killings
Morris Tidball-BinzUnited Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
Tidball-Binz urged France to reject the bill and argued that the state’s investigative duty must not be displaced by requiring victims or families to rebut a presumption before the facts are independently established.
Responding to
A presumption favoring lawful firearm use could weaken the active search for evidence and increase the risk that potentially arbitrary deprivations of life go without accountability.
“Every potentially unlawful death involving law enforcement officials must be investigated through a prompt, thorough, effective, independent, impartial and transparent investigation. The duty to investigate every potentially unlawful killing rests with the State. It cannot be displaced, in law or in practice, by requiring victims or their families to rebut a legal presumption that the use of potentially lethal force was lawful before the facts have been independently established.”
Official statement
Where this statement fits
Should France presume police and gendarmes acted lawfully when using firearms?
A bill filed by French lawmaker Éric Pauget and rewritten by the government would create a rebuttable presumption that national police officers and gendarmes who use firearms acted within an authorized statutory circumstance and complied with requirements of absolute necessity and strict proportionality. The National Assembly adopted the text on July 7, 2026, and sent it to the Senate. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez and police-union supporters say the measure would protect officers without ending judicial review; the Defender of Rights, a UN special rapporteur and human-rights groups argue that it could weaken investigations, victims’ remedies and accountability for lethal force.
Source and context
Official statement
About this source
UN press release quoting Special Rapporteur Morris Tidball-Binz. He said potentially unlawful deaths involving law enforcement require prompt, effective, independent and transparent investigation, and warned that victims or families should not have to rebut a legal presumption before facts are independently established.
Before the quotation
The UN release described the amended bill as presuming that police officers and gendarmes who fire weapons acted lawfully, necessarily and proportionately unless evidence showed otherwise.
After the quotation
Tidball-Binz warned that influencing the initiation and conduct of investigations could weaken evidence gathering, hinder fact-finding and increase the risk that arbitrary deprivations of life go without accountability.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Relative to the proposed statutory presumption, Tidball-Binz expressly urges rejection and argues that it threatens independent investigation and accountability. This is direct condemnation of the policy.
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More from this case
Read the full caseNuñez rejects the claim that the firearms bill creates a license to kill
“What we are creating is a simple presumption, which can be overturned very quickly, as the text provides. So stop saying everywhere that we have created a license to kill! (Translated from French. Original: Ce que nous créons est une simple présomption, qui peut être renversée très rapidement, ce que le texte prévoit. Arrêtez donc de dire partout que nous aurions créé un permis de tuer !)”Read statement
LDH says the police firearm presumption would obstruct investigations of shootings
Ligue des droits de l'Homme
“Yet establishing a presumption that shootings are lawful would amount to accepting from the outset that the use of the weapon was lawful, and therefore to slowing down, or even preventing, investigations, with the possible consequence that unjustified uses escape any sanction. As a result, victims would be deprived of any hope that the truth would come out, and all the current failings would be legitimized. (Translated from French. Original: Or l’instauration d’une présomption de légalité des tirs reviendrait à admettre d’emblée la conformité de l’usage de l’arme et donc de freiner, voire d’empêcher, la réalisation d’investigations, avec pour conséquence possible que des utilisations injustifiées échappent à toute sanction. Dès lors, les victimes seraient privées de toute espérance quant à la manifestation de la vérité et tous les dysfonctionnements actuels seraient légitimés.)”Read statement
Stéphane Peu opposes France's firearm-use presumption
“an inequality before the law (Translated from French. Original: une inégalité devant la loi)”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "UN expert says the state must retain the duty to investigate potentially unlawful killings". First published: 2026-09-22. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1377-tidball-binz-urged-france-to-reject-the-bill