- The UN calls for women’s freedom to choose their clothing and urges France to eliminate discrimination and respect women’s rights and dignity.
- “No one should impose on a woman what she needs to wear, or not wear,” Marta Hurtado, a spokesperson for the UN’s human rights office, said on Tuesday after she was asked whether the ban met the UN’s criteria on human rights.
France’s policy of secularism and its ban on religious symbols in public spaces have been challenged by the UN human rights office, which said women should be free to choose what they wear.
The UN’s intervention came after the French minister for sport, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, announced that athletes representing France in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris would not be allowed to wear headscarves or any other accessories or garments expressing their religious affiliation.
The UN spokesperson, Marta Hurtado, said that no one should impose on a woman what she needs to wear or not wear, and that restrictions on the expression of religion or beliefs should be justified by legitimate concerns for public safety, order or health, and applied in a proportionate manner.
She also said that France had an obligation to eliminate discrimination against women and to modify any social or cultural patterns that are based on the idea of inferiority or superiority of either sexes.
France has a long history of controversy over secularism and women’s clothing, especially regarding Muslim women who wear headscarves, niqabs or abayas. The country has banned face coverings in public since 2010 and religious symbols in state schools since 2004.
Recently, the government has intensified its efforts to enforce secularism by banning the abaya, a long dress worn by Muslim women, in state schools, and by supporting a ban on headscarves in football matches.
These measures have been criticised by human rights groups, activists and politicians who accuse the government of stigmatising Muslims, violating their rights and freedoms, and pandering to the far-right.
France has also faced criticism from the UN human rights committee in the past for its ban on face coverings and its discrimination against a Muslim woman who was denied access to vocational training because of her headscarf.
The UN human rights office said that discriminatory practices against a group can have harmful consequences and urged France to respect the rights and dignity of all women.
