Amnesty blasts France’s hijab ban at Paris Olympics as ‘discriminatory hypocrisy’

Amnesty International has condemned France's ban on female athletes wearing the hijab at the Paris Olympic Games, labeling it as "discriminatory hypocrisy" on the part of French authorities and a display of "craven weakness" by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), News.Az reports.

In a new report titled “We can’t breathe anymore. Even sports, we can’t do them anymore”, the rights group examines the negative impact of the hijab ban on Muslim women and girls at all levels of sport in France.

“Banning French athletes from competing with sports hijabs at the Olympic and Paralympic Games makes a mockery of claims that Paris 2024 is the first Gender Equal Olympics and lays bare the racist gender discrimination that underpins access to sport in France,” said Anna Błuś, Amnesty International’s Women’s Rights Researcher in Europe.

“Discriminatory rules policing what women wear are a violation of Muslim women’s and girls’ human rights and have a devastating impact on their participation in sport, blocking efforts to make sports more inclusive and more accessible.”

Hijab bans in multiple sports in France have created an untenable situation whereby the country hosting the Olympic Games is in breach of multiple obligations under international human rights treaties to which it is a party as well as commitments and values set out in the IOC’s own human rights framework. Despite repeated demands, the IOC has so far refused to call on sporting authorities in France to overturn their bans on athletes wearing the hijab at the Olympics and at all levels of sport. In response to a letter from a coalition of organizations urging it to take action, the IOC claimed that France’s prohibition on sports hijabs was outside the remit of the Olympic movement, claiming that “freedom of religion is interpreted in many different ways by different states.” The IOC’s response did not mention other rights violated by the ban, such as freedom of expression and access to health.

News.Az