Amnesty International has protested the hijab ban in France ahead of the Olympic Games
Amnesty International has accused France of violating international human rights law by banning women from wearing hijabs at the Summer Olympics in Paris. In September last year, France's sports minister told French athletes that religious symbols, including headscarves, would be banned during events.
Amnesty International has accused France of violating international human rights law by banning women from wearing hijabs at the Summer Olympics in Paris.
In September of last year, the French sports minister said that the athletes representing France will be prohibited from displaying religious symbols, including headscarves, during events.
"Banning French athletes wearing headscarves from participating in the Olympic Games violates international human rights laws and shows the humiliating hypocrisy of the French authorities and the extreme weakness of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) , " says the organization's new report published on the eve of the Paris Olympics.
France is the only European country to ban the hijab in sports, which is against the rules of international sports organizations such as FIFA, the International Basketball Federation and the International Volleyball Federation.
Amnesty 's European Women's Rights Researcher Anne Bloos said: "The ban on French athletes from wearing the headscarf at the Olympic and Paralympic Games makes a mockery of claims that the 2024 Games will be the 'first gender-equality Olympics'."
"Discriminatory rules governing women's clothing are a violation of the human rights of Muslim women and girls and have a devastating impact on their participation in sports," he added.
Basketball player Helen Ba said France's ban was "a flagrant violation of the Olympic Charter, values and rules and an attack on fundamental rights".
In a press release, Amnesty noted that for several years, the French government has armed itself with notions of secularism to justify laws and policies that disproportionately affect Muslim women and girls.
