In a report issued on Tuesday, Amnesty International condemned the French government for deciding to forbid women athletes representing France from wearing headscarves during the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been criticized for their “inadequate” reaction to appeals for the ban to be lifted.
The report said that the prohibition violates international human rights legislation.
According to the report, Muslim women and girls are disproportionately affected by these discriminatory regulations, which “cause humiliation, trauma, and fear.” Anna Błuō, a women’s rights researcher for Amnesty International in Europe, observed:
Discriminatory clothing codes that restrict women’s attire violate the human rights of Muslim women and girls and severely hinder their ability to participate in sports, thwarting attempts to increase accessibility and inclusivity in the activity. No woman should be forced to choose between her love of a sport and her faith, cultural identity, or values, nor should any policymaker dictate what a woman may or cannot wear[.]
It criticizes the IOC’s reaction to a letter sent on June 11, 2024, and released by Basket Pour Toutes, the Sport & Rights Alliance, and other advocacy organizations.
The IOC was asked to use its influence to “publicly call on sporting leaders in France to overturn all bans on participants wearing the hijab in French sport, both at [the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games] as well as all times and all levels of [the] sport,” according to a letter written to IOC President Thomas Bach.
The letter further states that these rules violate the IOC Strategic Framework on Human Rights, the Principles of Olympism, and international human rights treaties to which France is a party.
According to the article, the IOC replied on June 18, stating that “freedom of religion is interpreted in many different ways by different states” and that “France’s prohibition on sports hijabs was outside the remit of the Olympic movement.”
Several French sports federations forbid wearing religious headgear at all levels of competition, which makes it difficult for Muslim women and girls to participate. Some organizations, including the Fédération Française de Basketball and the Fédération Française de Football, have policies that forbid head coverings related to religion. Les Hijabeuses and Basket Pour Toutes, two French collectives that support gender equality and nondiscrimination, have been advocating for the repeal of these prohibitions.
A group of athletes, along with Basket Pour Toutes, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Sport & Rights Alliance, petitioned the French Basketball Federation earlier this year to “overturn its current policy prohibiting religious headwear, which openly defies international human rights regulations and norms by disproportionately impacting and focusing on observant Muslim women and girls.” The open letter was published on International Women’s Day.
For many years, the French Constitutional principle of la̿cité has impacted the country’s public religious expression by enacting comparable bans and limitations that apply to all professions.