 |
|
MEPs Lucas and Ludford were keen on attending Wednesday celebration in Strasbourg.
|
By Ahmad Maher, IOL Staff
CAIRO, May 24, 2005 (IslamOnline.net)
– Marking the end of three months of intense lobbying and
painstaking efforts to make their voice heard and gain the support of
Members of European Parliament (MEPs), Protect Hijab activists see the
campaign a “success” and “positive step.”
“If we look at the number of
Written Declarations (WDs) that have been put before the European
Parliament this year, from eight WDs only two got more signatories
than ours,” Vice-Coordinator of the London-based Assembly for the
Protection of Hijab (Protect Hijab), Rajnaara Akhtar, told
IslamOnline.net Tuesday, May 24.
She was referring to a Written
Declaration on Religious Rights and Freedoms, which was tabled by
Protect Hijab and MEPs to the parliament February 21 as a preliminary
step towards a binding resolution obliging European countries,
particularly France, to lift ban on hijab in state-run institutions
like schools.
“If we look at the picture that
way, it (the hijab campaign) has been definitely a success. It is a
first step we have to build on it, considering it was the first WD we
put forward and collected that number of signatures which reached 70
in total. So we do think that it was a positive thing,” Akhtar told
IOL by phone from London.
Akhtar added pro-hijab activists met
in London Saturday, May 21, to celebrate the achievement over the past
three months.
“We also met Wednesday [May 18] in
front of the Strasbourg-based European Parliament and were shared the
moment by MEPs,” she said.
MEPs Support
 |
|
“What we want to ensure is that the campaign keeps moving forward,” said Akhtar.
|
The WD was initially drafted by
British MEPs Caroline Lucas (Green Party), amended by Sarah Ludford
(Liberal Democrats), and then translated into 22 languages spoken
across Europe.
Chief among the signatories are
French Alain Lipietz, Polish Bogusław Rogalski, German Frau
Gisela Kallenbach, Hungarian Kinga Gál, Italian Luisa
Morgantini, Spanish Raül Romeva i Rueda, Finnish Eija-Riitta Korhola,
Latvian Tatjana Zdanoka, Danish Hr. Neils Busk, Dutch Maria Martens,
Eistonian Siiri Oviir, according to Protect
Hijab Web site.
“Now we have many friends inside
the European Parliament and will continue to engage with them and
share ideas with them,” Akhtar added.
“More politicians are aware of the
campaign as we encourage them to think about the key issue of
religious tolerance in Europe.”
To become a binding resolution, a WD
must get the endorsement of half of the 732-member European
legislature.
Protect Hijab Coordinator Abeer
Pharaon told IOL in an earlier interview that of 161 written
declarations on different issues that had been presented to the
parliament, only six were adopted.
Next Step
Akhtar said that the Protect Hijab
activists are resolved to keep their cause vivid no matter what it
takes.
“What we want to ensure is that the
campaign keeps moving forward,” she said.
“The next major step is the
International Hijab Solidarity Day on September 3. We are in the
process of planning activities that will take place around the world,
including Middle East countries like Egypt and Jordan.”
“We will also be focusing on the
media to raise awareness and make hijab and religious tolerance a
talking point. Targeting the media is a great way to achieve this,”
the hijab activist added.
France spearheaded anti-hijab
European countries with its lower house of parliament adopting the
controversial bill on February 10 last year with an overwhelming
majority.
The text, put forward by President
Jacques Chirac's ruling center-right Union for a Popular Majority
(UMP) party and supported by the left-wing opposition Socialists, was
adopted by a vote of 494 to 36.
Shortly afterwards, other European
countries, chiefly Germany, followed the French lead.
The French ban, described by
international rights watchdogs as amounting to religious
discrimination, prompted demonstrations across Europe.
International figures also stood
behind the Muslim right, including London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who
said Paris’s move is an “anti-Muslim measure” and accused Chirac
plays a “terribly, terribly dangerous game.”
Islam sees hijab as an obligatory
code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.
