As France prepares to kick off and welcome the world to the upcoming Olympics and Paralympics Summer Games of 2024, which will take place from July 26th to August 11th, French secularism (also called laïcité in French) is in the spotlight once more after a human rights organization published a report condemning the French government's decision to bar its athletes from wearing the hijab while competing in the Olympics.
France
When the 2024 Olympics start, France will ban athletes from wearing headscarves, contradicting the Olympic charter’s call for religious respect. Amnesty International calls it discrimination, warning it could harm French women athletes.https://t.co/5Hi4bUrSj1— FareNewsFeed (@Faredatafeed) July 24, 2024
Released on July 16th, the report by Amnesty International seeks to draw international attention to what the human rights organization considers a violation of the rights of Muslim women and girls. The report also criticized France’s “discriminatory policies against Muslim women” in sports and society promulgated under the name of “laïcité” or secularism, which demands religious neutrality in public spaces.
Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the country’s Minister of Sports and Olympic and Paralympic Games, clarified France’s hijab ban during the Olympic games. She stated that while athletes from other countries could cover their heads, France would bar its delegation from wearing religious headscarves during the competition. The announcement sparked outrage among human rights organizations, including the United Nations Human Rights Office.
“No one should impose on a woman what she needs to wear or not wear,” Marta Hurtado, a UN Human Rights Office spokesperson, said.
Quite right
With the problems public displays of religion cause - best to keep it out of sight where it belongs— Aaron Sweeney (@AaronSwney) July 18, 2024
Anna Błuś, a researcher at Amnesty International who helped produce the report, said France’s efforts to organize the “first ever gender-equal Olympics” are meaningless if the country continues to discriminate against its athletes.
“We find this very hypocritical to say that you care about women’s equality and women’s participation in sports while at the same time effectively banning Muslim women who wear hijab and other forms of religious clothing from participating in these games,” she said.
The report also argued that France’s decision violates the Olympic fundamental principles and breaches a wide range of international, multilateral treaties on human rights, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
France is the kuffar and it is haram to bring glory to the kuffar.
— Majimbo Werujimbo (@werujimbo) September 25, 2023
The ban also reportedly violated provisions of the International Olympic Committee's human rights framework. Amnesty International and nine other organizations sent a letter to the IOC’s president last May urging the committee to overturn the ban.
“The hijab bans in sports have resulted in many Muslim athletes being discriminated against, invisibilized, excluded and humiliated, causing trauma and social isolation — some have left or are considering leaving the country to seek playing opportunities elsewhere,” the letter read.
The IOC responded to the letter in June, stating that the ban only applied to French athletes since they are considered civil servants while reassuring that all other athletes would be allowed to wear the hijab and other religious symbols in the Olympic Village, Olympic venues, and in competition, per their country’s Olympic federation policies.
Actually France bans its athletes from wearing overtly religious clothing or symbols. It affects Sikh men wearing a turban or Christians with overtly religious accessories. Disagree but be accurate. This is not about Islam.
— Spana (@Spana248) July 20, 2024
But Błuś said the IOC’s response was feeble, arguing the committee could have pressured France to overturn the ban, which, according to the report by Amnesty International, disproportionately affects Muslim women.
