French lawmakers mull banning headscarves in sport. Amnesty International says it's discriminatory

Amnesty International is urging French lawmakers to reject a bill this week that would ban headscarves in all sporting competitions.

The bill is backed by right-wing senators and will be debated from Tuesday in the upper house of the French parliament. Its aim is to ban all “ostensibly religious” clothing and symbols during competitions. Amnesty International says the move would be discriminatory.

The vote is likely to refuel the lingering debate on secularism — still volatile more than a century after the 1905 law on separation of church and state that established it as a principle of the French Republic.

Until now, sporting federations have been free to decide whether or not to allow headscarves, with two of the country’s most powerful sports, soccer and rugby, opting to ban them.

The bill is at an early stage and this week's vote marks the beginning of a long legislative process with an uncertain outcome. Even if senators vote in favor, the bill's future will remain unclear since the lower house has the final say.

To pass, the bill would need a coalition of forces that don't usually collaborate in the deeply divided lower house.

Amnesty International's calls come after French sprinter Sounkamba Sylla said last summer she was barred from the opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics because she wears a hijab. She was eventually allowed to take part wearing a cap to cover her hair.

France enforces a strict principle of “ laïcité,” loosely translated as “secularism.” At the Games, the president of the French Olympic Committee said its Olympians were bound by the secular principles that apply to public sector workers in the country, which include a ban on hijabs and other religious signs.

“At the Paris Olympics, France’s ban on French women athletes who wear headscarves from competing at the Games drew international outrage," said Anna Błuś, an Amnesty International researcher on gender justice.

"Just six months on, French authorities are not only doubling down on the discriminatory hijab ban but are attempting to extend it to all sports.”

Experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council have previously criticized the decision by the French soccer and basketball federations to exclude players wearing the hijab, and the French government’s decision to prevent its athletes wearing headscarves from representing the country at the Paris Games.

Amnesty International said the bill in reality targets Muslim women and girls by excluding them from sporting competitions if they wear a headscarf or other religious clothing.

“Laïcité...which is theoretically embedded in the French constitution to protect everyone’s religious freedom, has often been used as a pretext to block Muslim women’s access to public spaces in France,” Amnesty International said.

“Over several years, the French authorities have enacted laws and policies to regulate Muslim women’s and girls’ clothing, in discriminatory ways. Sport federations have followed suit, imposing hijab bans in several sports.”

Two years ago, France’s highest administrative court said the country’s soccer federation was entitled to ban headscarves in competitions even though the measure can limit freedom of expression.

Wielding the principle of religious neutrality enshrined in the constitution, the country’s soccer federation also does not make things easy for international players who want to refrain from drinking or eating from dawn to sunset during the Ramadan, Islamic holy month.

Supporters of the bill cite growing attacks on secularism in sport, arguing that its core values are based on a principle of universality. To protect sports grounds from any non-sporting confrontation, they say, a principle of neutrality needs to be implemented to ensure that no political, religious or racial demonstration or propaganda can be promoted.

The bill also states that using part of a sports facility as a place of worship would be a misuse of its purpose, and bans the wearing of religious clothing, such as the burkini, in public swimming pools.

“By placing the wearing of a headscarf on the spectrum of “attacks on secularism”, which range from “permissiveness” to “terrorism”, this legislation, if passed, would fuel racism and reinforce the growing hostile environment facing Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim in France,” Amnesty International said.

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Associated Press reporter Sylvie Corbet contributed to this story.