France is facing criticism from human rights organizations over its decision to ban its female athletes from wearing hijabs during the upcoming Paris Summer Olympics. The controversial policy, announced last September by French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera, has reignited debates about religious freedom and secularism in sports.
According to reporting by the Daily Mail, Amnesty International, along with ten other rights groups, has accused France of "discriminatory hypocrisy" for refusing to allow its athletes to wear the hijab during Olympic competitions. The organizations argue that the ban prevents athletes "from exercising their human right to play sport without discrimination of any kind."
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has declined to intervene in the matter, stating that "freedom of religion is interpreted in many different ways by different states." The IOC previously announced that athletes would be permitted to wear hijabs in the Olympic Village, but France's ban extends to competition venues.
Amelie Oudea-Castera, France's sports minister, defended the ban last year, citing the principle of secularism, calling it "a ban on any type of proselytizing. That means absolute neutrality in public services. The French team will not wear the headscarf."
Critics argue that the policy contradicts not only the IOC's own guidelines but also international treaty obligations that France is required to uphold. Anna Błuś, Amnesty International's Women's Rights Researcher in Europe, stated, "Banning French athletes from competing with sports hijabs at the Olympic and Paralympic Games makes a mockery of claims that Paris 2024 is the first Gender Equal Olympics and lays bare the racist gender discrimination that underpins access to sport in France."
The IOC should insist that France overturn its ban on French athletes wearing the hijab at #ParisOlympics or face sanctions. It's discriminatory and in part based on gross misrepresentation of the Olympic Charter.
🧵 on how France dresses its Islamophobia up as secularism pic.twitter.com/O8aA9h7dFG— Nicholas McGeehan (@NcGeehan) April 17, 2024
France is currently the only European country that prohibits headscarf-wearing women from participating in most domestic sports competitions. The French Council of State upheld a similar ban on female footballers wearing hijabs during games in June 2023.
Rights groups have expressed concern about the potential consequences of blocking headscarf-wearing women from participating in sports. Amnesty International claims that such bans have resulted in negative mental and physical consequences for women and caused "humiliation, trauma, and fear." The United Nations Rights Office has also indirectly weighed in on the issue. A spokeswoman in Geneva stated that "no one should impose on a woman what she needs to wear or not to wear."
As the Paris Olympics approach, scheduled to begin in just ten days, France has shown no signs of reversing its stance on the hijab ban. The Daily Mail reports that many Muslim athletes participate in sporting events while wearing specially designed hijabs. However, under the current French policy, these athletes may be forced to choose between their religious beliefs and representing their country at the Olympics.
