The ban law is expected to come into effect in September

NEW YORK, February 27 (IslamOnline.net) – The proposed French law banning hijab and other religious insignia is “discriminatory” as it disproportionately affects Muslim girls in the European country, Human Rights Watch said Friday, February 27.

“By disproportionately affecting Muslim girls, (the) proposed law is discriminatory,” the HRW said in a report, published in its website.

“The impact of a ban on visible religious symbols, even though phrased in neutral terms, will fall disproportionately on Muslim girls, and thus violate anti-discrimination provisions of international human rights law as well as the right to equal educational opportunity,” read the report.

The law will be debated in the French Senate Tuesday, March 2 - amid wide opposition form the five million Muslims and human rights groups in the country.

“The law will leave some Muslim families no choice but to remove girls from the state education system,” said the HRW.

“The promotion of understanding and tolerance for such differences in values is a key aspect of enforcement of the right to education.”

French President Jacques Chirac said in a televised speech in December that the "Islamic veil - whatever name we give it - the skullcap and a cross that is of plainly excessive dimensions" have no place  in the precincts of state schools.

The statements drew an international outcry from ordinary Muslims and schools across the world, who insisted hijab is a religious obligation not a display of faith.

Religious Obligation

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said that wearing a hijab “is not only about religious expression, it is about religious obligation” for Muslims.

Roth said the proposed law is “an unwarranted infringement on the right to religious practice”.

The French law would violate the rights to freedom of religion and expression, said the report.

“International human rights law obliges state authorities to avoid coercion in matters of religious freedom, and this obligation must be taken into account when devising school dress codes”.

Under international law, the report said, states can only limit religious practices when there is a compelling public safety reason, when the manifestation of religious beliefs would impinge on the rights of others, or when it serves a legitimate educational function (such as prohibiting practices that preclude student-teacher interaction).

But hijabs, Sikh turbans, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses - which are among the visible religious signs that would be prohibited - do not pose a threat to public health, order or morals, said the report.

“They have no effect on the fundamental rights and freedoms of other students; and they do not undermine a school’s educational function.”

No Religious Fundamentalism

The report also refuted claims that proposed law, which would come into force in September, is necessary to uphold the separation of church and state in education, and to protect the secular state from the perceived threat of religious fundamentalism, particularly Islamic fundamentalism.

“Protecting the right of all students to religious freedom does not undermine secularism in schools,” said the group.

“On the contrary, it demonstrates respect for religious diversity, a position fully consistent with maintaining the strict separation of public institutions from any particular religious message,” it added.

Although the HRW recognizes the legitimacy of public institutions seeking not to promote any religion via their conduct or statements, it highlighted that the French government has taken this a step further by suggesting that the state is undermining secularism if it allows students to wear religious gears.

The group also took issue with supporters’ claims that the law should be taken on the grounds that it will protect Muslim girls from being forced or pressured to wear the headscarf by their parents.

Under international law, states must respect the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents to provide, in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child, appropriate direction and guidance in the child’s exercise of their basic rights, read the report.

“Unnecessary restrictions on children’s personal rights and freedoms should not be promoted as a means of child protection, it averred.

“Some in France have used the headscarf issue as a pretext for voicing anti-immigrant and  anti-Muslim sentiments,” it said.

“The proposed law has raised important issues about religious freedom and the role of the state in France,” said Roth.

The report warned that the French law would have important implications throughout Europe and beyond. 

Demonstrators took to streets in more than 25 countries on Saturday, January 17, for an international day  against the ban.

International figures also stood behind, including London Mayor Ken Livingstone who said Paris’s move is "anti-Muslim measure" and accused Chirac plays a “terribly, terribly dangerous game”.

In Britain, the government has stressed that it will not follow the French example, much to the relief of the Muslim community there.

The International Religious Freedom report, released by the U.S. State Department Thursday, December 18, voiced concerns over French plans to ban the religious insignia

A U.S. Congressman said this month he would draft resolution condemning the imminent law in France, and 50 other senators have signed a letter addressed to the French ambassador to express their concern over the bill.