UN panel urges France to review ban on full-body Islamic veil
The UN Human Rights Committee urges France to review its ban on the niqab, the full-body Islamic veil, saying the legislation is a violation of human rights.
The UN committee of 18 independent human rights experts on Tuesday said France had failed to make the case for its ban and gave Paris a 180 day deadline to provide information on the steps it has taken.
Although the panel’s findings are not legally binding, they could influence French courts.
The committee ruled in the favor of two French Muslim women who had complained after being prosecuted, convicted and fined in 2012 for wearing the niqab, based on a 2010 French law which stipulates that “no one may, in a public space, wear any article of clothing intended to conceal the face.”
"In two landmark decisions, the United Nations Human Rights Committee found that France violated the human rights of two women by fining them for wearing the niqab," the statement read.
#France: Fining two women for wearing the #niqab in public violated their freedom of religion — #HRCttee experts not persuaded by France’s claim that ban was necessary & proportionate for security reasons or for attaining the goal of “living together”.
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) October 23, 2018
📑 https://t.co/NBxXFLCZXF pic.twitter.com/ZjBQORwy3k
“In particular, the Committee was not persuaded by France’s claim that a ban on face covering was necessary and proportionate from a security standpoint or for attaining the goal of ‘living together’ in society,” it said.
The committee oversees compliance with the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Implementation of the ICCPR's decisions is not mandatory, but under an optional protocol of the treaty, France has an international legal obligation to comply “in good faith.”
French authorities have not made any reaction so far.
The European Court of Human Rights, whose rulings are binding, upheld in 2014 France’s ban on full-face veils in public, saying it did not violate religious freedom.
In its statement, however, the UN Human Rights Committee disagreed with this and said, "The French law disproportionately harmed the petitioners’ right to manifest their religious beliefs, and that France had not adequately explained why it was necessary to prohibit this clothing."
Under the ban, anyone wearing the full-face veil in public is liable to a fine of 150 euros or lessons in French citizenship.
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