The ban on the Muslim veil in France: what has been the result?

ParisFrench athlete Sounkamba Sylla was nearly barred from participating in the Olympic opening ceremony last summer because she is Muslim and wears a veil. French athletes are prohibited from wearing any religious symbols during international competitions they participate in with the French national team, but shortly before the start of the Paris Games, the government warned that it would not allow symbols to be worn during the opening ceremony either. Sylla, a 4x400m relay runner, stood her ground. She was finally able to participate after reaching an agreement with the government: she wore a cap, the same one she later wore to compete in the Games.

The debate over the Islamic veil has surfaced in the Parliament of Catalonia Following a motion by the Catalan Alliance, which proposed banning it from all public spaces, while Junts also positioned itself in favor of banning it from compulsory education. But what are the effects of these measures? France is the European country with the most restrictive regulations regarding the prohibition of wearing the Muslim veil, but this has not contributed to greater integration. Relying on the 1905 law enshrining the separation of Church and State, and on the secular nature of the state, one of the most important pillars of the French Republic, recent right-wing governments have legislated to gradually erase Muslim religious symbols from public spaces, especially in schools.

The first key moment was 2004, when, under President Jacques Chirac, France passed the first law banning "ostentatious" religious symbols in schools and institutes, for both students and teachers. The law not only affects the hijab but also the Jewish kippah and visible Catholic crosses, but the law is passed after years of controversy because high school principals prohibit girls from entering wearing the Muslim veil, arguing that it violates the principle of secularism.

The burka is also banned.

In 2011, with conservative Nicolas Sarkozy as president, France took a further step. It became the first country in the world to to prohibit any full-face veil that covers the face in public spaces, such as the niqab or the burqa. Neither law explicitly refers to symbols of the Muslim religion, but they are clearly targeted at the community of that religion.

NGOs denounce that this type of law stigmatizes Muslims and attacks women's rights. "Although they are not mentioned in the laws, we see in the political and media debate that it is Muslims who are stigmatized. It is a double discrimination: religious but also gender-based, because women are the object of the laws," denounces Johanna Wagman, head of racial and religious discrimination at Amnesty International in France. "It is true that sometimes there is stigmatization in political debate," President Emmanuel Macron admitted this week.

Islamophobia

French civil servants are also not allowed to wear a headscarf or any other garment that reveals their religious affiliation, whether or not they are facing public, with the exception of members of parliament, mayors, or councilors. Since 2023, they are also prohibited from wearing a headscarf or any other garment that reveals their religious affiliation. Abayas and qamis, traditional dresses and robes from Muslim countries, are prohibited in schools and institutes., a measure that, like all the others, generated much controversy. While the right and far right defend laws against symbols of the Muslim religion, most left-wing parties denounce the Islamophobia that drives conservative parties when it comes to legislating.

"These are proposals that fracture and go against coexistence. This bill has a political objective, which is to instrumentalize secularism and stigmatize a religion," warned Socialist Senator Sylvie Robert during the debate a few weeks ago in the Senate on a right-wing proposal to ban the veil. "I haven't heard of players showing their faces before entering the field; because that doesn't bother them. Their obsession is Islam," denounced environmentalist Yannick Jadot in the same debate. Despite opposition from the left, the text was approved and is now awaiting debate in the National Assembly.

Far-right obsession

The hijab ban is also a long-standing obsession of the far right. Marine Le Pen calls the veil an "Islamist uniform" and advocates banning it completely from public spaces. "I will ban it in the same way you can't ride in a car without your seatbelt fastened," she stated in an interview. The vice president of the party (Regroupe Nationale), Sébastien Chenu, is even more forceful: "We want to ensure that the veil disappears from our society," he stated recently in an interview on RTL.

More than twenty years after the first law banning the hijab in schools, the veil ban continues to generate great division in France, but much of the parliamentary spectrum is willing to continue legislating on the matter. Recently, a ban on the veil in public spaces for adolescents and girls, including in universities, has been put back on the table, and the aforementioned veil law in sports could be passed. Currently, the hijab is only banned in certain sports such as soccer and basketball—a decision is made by each federation—and in all disciplines when it comes to competitions where athletes represent France. That is why only French athletes were prohibited from participating in the Olympic Games wearing a veil.