Europe’s leading human rights court upheld France’s ban on headscarves in the case of a social worker who was fired because she refused to remove it.
Christiane Ebrahimian lost her job at a psychiatric department of a hospital in Nanterre after patients complained about her refusal to remove her headscarf. However, Ebrahimian lost her appeal at the European Court of Human Rights this week.
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The French government has banned employees working in the public sector from displaying their religious beliefs while at work. In 2004, the country banned the wearing of “conspicuous religious symbols”, including the Muslim face veil, known as the niqab.
Eventually, the ban was also extended to schoolchildren and parents who wanted to accompany students on their school trips.
In 2010, the country banned face coverings of all kinds, including masks, niqabs and the burqa, in public spaces “except under specified circumstances”.
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Ebrahiminan was recruited to the hospital where she was fired from, on a fixed term contract but was later told that her contract would be terminated following complaints from patients; who said she refused to remove her headscarf.
Later, the hospital wrote to her reminding her that “the secular state… prevented public officials from enjoying the right to manifest their religious beliefs while discharging their functions.”
“Wearing a visible symbol of religious affiliation constituted a breach of a public official’s duties,” the letter stated further.
Meanwhile, new rules imposed by the local government in a Swiss state have made wearing face covering veils in public an offence, for which women will be fined.
Swiss state to fine women wearing burqa up to £6,500
Women caught wearing the burqa in shops, public buildings and restaurants could be issued with fines of up to £6,500.
AFP
