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The upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, scheduled from July 26 to August 11, has reignited debate about hijab in France. While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in September that the sports event in Paris will see «no restrictions on wearing the hijab or any other religious or cultural attire», this does not apply to the French team.
Female French athletes participating in this international multi-sport event will not be allowed to compete while wearing hijab. French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra announced the ban on wearing hijabs in sports in September 2023, citing the principle of secularism.
While some private sports clubs, such as the French rugby, tennis, and handball federations, are exempt from the ban, soccer and basketball enforce it.
This exclusion has been denounced by many Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) as discrimination against French Muslim athletes. On June 11, Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-headquartered international NGO, sent a letter to IOC President Thomas Bach, urging the body to «publicly call on sporting authorities in France to overturn all bans on athletes wearing the hijab in French sport, both at Paris 2024 and at all times and all levels of sport».
Discrimination against women and girls wearing the hijab
HRW argues that «hijab bans in sports have resulted in many Muslim athletes being discriminated against, invisibilized, excluded, and humiliated, causing trauma and social isolation – some have left or are considering leaving the country to seek playing opportunities elsewhere».
What makes this ban particularly controversial is that it only applies to French athletes competing in the Paris Olympics. The French Sports Minister clarified that the ban on hijab will not apply to athletes from other nations in the Olympic Village. This position, according to HRW, fails to challenge France's discriminatory ban and address the ongoing harm it inflicts on athletes who wear hijab.
France's ban on hijab during the Olympics is seen as an aberration against international law and the Olympic Charter. Speaking to Radio-Canada Sports, former UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues Fernand De Varennes questioned the French decision.
«How can we, on the one hand, accept women athletes wearing the headscarf from every other country during the Olympic Games and, on the other, exclude French athletes?» he asked.
«The Olympic Charter directly addresses this issue», he continued, «by rejecting all forms of discrimination on any grounds, including race, color, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status».
France's ban on hijab in the Olympics is part of a broader series of decisions against wearing religious symbols in public spaces.
