French officials’ decision to exclude Muslim women from competing in the Paris Olympics has prompted accusations of discriminatory hypocrisy from rights organizations.
In a joint study with eleven other groups, Amnesty International asserts that the prohibition violates human rights laws worldwide and highlights the hypocrisy and discrimination of the French government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
While the IOC had previously maintained that athletes are free to wear the headscarf in the Olympic Village, it has now stated that it supports France’s decision to ban the garment, citing the fact that freedom of religion is interpreted in many different ways by different states.
The UN is looking into the matter because no one should impose on a woman what she needs to wear or not wear. Many French female athletes have spoken out about how the ban made it impossible for them to compete in the Olympics. In September, France’s Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera stated that the country would not accept its athletes wearing the hijab, citing the concept of secularism as the reason.
Women who choose to wear headscarves are barred from competing in the majority of domestic sporting events in France, the only European country to do so. Some human rights organizations have claimed that this strategy goes beyond French law and the International Olympic Committee’s own rules. In June 2023, the French Football Federation’s ban on female players wearing the hijab during games was maintained by the French Council of State.
Amnesty International and other rights organizations have long warned that banning women who wear headscarves from participating in athletic events can have devastating psychological and physiological effects, including the infliction of shame, trauma, and even death. The United Nations has also commented on France’s Olympic strategy, with a spokesperson from the UN Rights Office in Geneva condemning the prohibition and saying that discriminatory practices against a group can have harmful consequences.
