States clamping down on basic human rights

European governments have responded to fears of terrorism and an influx of Muslim refugees by cracking down on basic freedoms, Human Rights Watch warned yesterday.

In a departure from previous years, the New York-based group's annual report did not open with the latest news from active war zones, but instead focused on the knock-on effects of conflict.

"Fears of terror attacks and of the potential impact of refugee influx led to a visible scaling back of rights in Europe and other regions," HRW director Kenneth Roth warned, introducing the report.

"In Europe and the United States, a polarizing us-versus-them rhetoric has moved from the political fringe to the mainstream," he wrote.

"Blatant Islamophobia and shameless demonizing of refugees have become the currency of an increasingly assertive politics of intolerance."

The report cites the example of France, where authorities have tightened emergency laws. Suspected radicals have been confined to house arrest without trial, and police have been given stronger powers to search addresses without a judicial warrant.

In its report, HRW warned that these "potentially indiscriminate policing techniques" risk exposing blameless young Muslim men to racial profiling.

Scapegoating Muslims and refugees, the report argues, "hurts and alienates populations crucial to counterterrorism efforts."

Meanwhile, rescuers found the bodies of seven drowned migrants, including two children, yesterday after their boat sank off the Greek island of Kos, the coastguard said. The bodies were found during a rescue operation launched after a survivor reported the sinking.