“The right to wear hijab must be put on the European parliament agenda,” Lucas

By Hany Bishr, IOL Correspondent

LONDON, September 24 (IslamOnline.net) – In an effort to contain the French hijab-ban law and halt it from extending to more European states, human rights activists and EU parliament members embarked on a campaign aimed at issuing a declaration demanding EU countries to respect the freedom of faith and dressing.

Meeting in Brussels Wednesday, September 22, human rights activists and members of the European parliament discussed the draft declaration, to be referred to the European parliament for endorsement. It basically calls for respecting free believes and free clothing, including the right to wear hijab and other religious symbols.

The meeting was attended by members of the European parliament and human rights activists from several European countries including Britain, France, Germany and Belgium.

The meeting was also joined by pro-hijab representatives of human rights groups such as the Paris-based “March 15 Gathering and Freedom”, Belgium-based “Liberal Women Union for Equal Rights”, in addition to the EU archbishops conference committee president.

The attendees probed introducing amendments to the draft declaration, focusing the right to believe or dress without hurting others, before referring it to the European parliament for endorsement in January 2005.

Parliamentary Support

The draft declaration needs the support of around 380 members of the European parliament to put it into force.

“The endorsement of the European parliament requires the support of around 380 members during the parliament meeting, slated for January 2005," Abeer Pharaon, chairwoman of the Muslim woman society in Britain told IslamOnline.net.

She called on all Muslim citizens to send messages to EU parliament members over the coming period urging them to support the draft declaration.

The pro-hijab coordinator said the campaign website comprises a copy of suggested messages to the EU parliament members as well as their addresses.

Hijab has taken central stage recently in several European countries, especially after France banned it in state-run schools and public institutions.

France has triggered the controversy by adopting a bill banning hijab and religious insignia in public schools.

The US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the French move is “discriminatory”.

Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations – unlike the symbolic Christian crucifixes or Jewish Kappas.

Islamophobia

Abeer Pharaon, a pro-hijab Muslim activist

Some EU parliament members urged the European parliament to discuss the issue of hijab for avoiding any human rights violations in Europe .

“The right to wear hijab must be put on the European parliament agenda to avoid the enactment of more hijab-banning laws in other European countries, a matter that threatens human rights in Europe,” Caroline Lucas, EU parliament member told IOL.

She urged the European politicians to raise human rights awareness and tackle the rising Islamophobia in the European countries.

“This would help change misleading stereotypes in the press on Islam and Muslims.”

Addressing the meeting, Alan Lebleigez, EU parliament member representing France said enhancing the right to wear hijab must be the center point of the campaign.

“The issue of freedom to wear hijab must be part of the campaign.”

He said Islamophobia in the west has been rising since the September attacks on New York and Washington.

“Islamophobia has always been in the west even before the September attacks on the United States but it has been rising since.”

Mofeda Ben Yeglen, representative of Liberal Women Union for Equal Rights in Belgium, for her part, underlined the need to have the campaign defend the right to wear or not to wear hijab for all citizens.