France: Hijab bans in French sport expose discriminatory double standards ahead of Olympic and Paralympic Games 

• IOC response to joint letter calling on lifting of hijab ban dismissive and inadequate

The ban on French women athletes who wear headscarves from competing at the Olympic Games breaches international human rights laws and exposes the discriminatory hypocrisy of French authorities and the craven weakness of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said Amnesty International in a new report published ahead of the Paris Olympic Games. 

“We can’t breathe anymore. Even sports, we can’t do them anymore”: Violations of Muslim women’s and girls’ human rights through hijab bans in sports in France, details the devastating impact that hijab bans are having on Muslim women and girls at all levels of French sport.

“Banning French athletes from competing with sports hijabs at the Olympic and Paralympic Games makes a mockery of claims that Paris 2024 is the first Gender Equal Olympics and lays bare the racist gender discrimination that underpins access to sport in France,” said Anna Błuś, Amnesty International’s Women’s Rights Researcher in Europe.

Discriminatory rules policing what women wear are a violation of Muslim women’s and girls’ human rights and have a devastating impact on their participation in sport, blocking efforts to make sports more inclusive and more accessible

Anna Błuś, Amnesty International’s Women’s Rights Researcher in Europe

“Discriminatory rules policing what women wear are a violation of Muslim women’s and girls’ human rights and have a devastating impact on their participation in sport, blocking efforts to make sports more inclusive and more accessible.” 

Hijab bans in multiple sports in France have created an untenable situation whereby the country hosting the Olympic Games is in breach of multiple obligations under international human rights treaties to which it is a party as well as commitments and values set out in the IOC’s own human rights framework. Despite repeated demands, the IOC has so far refused to call on sporting authorities in France to overturn their bans on athletes wearing the hijab at the Olympics and at all levels of sport. In response to a letter from a coalition of organizations urging it to take action, the IOC claimed that France’s prohibition on sports hijabs was outside the remit of the Olympic movement, claiming that “freedom of religion is interpreted in many different ways by different states.”  The IOC’s response did not mention other rights violated by the ban, such as freedom of expression and access to health.

France’s bans on sports headgear contradict the clothing rules of international sports bodies such as FIFA (International Football Federation), FIBA (International Basketball Federation) and FIVB (International Volleyball Federation). Amnesty International looked at rules in 38 European countries and found that France is the only one that has enshrined bans on religious headwear either on the level of national laws or individual sports regulations. 

Hélène Bâ, a basketball player, told Amnesty International that the Olympics hijab ban “is a clear violation of the Olympic charter, values and provisions, and an infringement on our fundamental rights and freedoms…I think it’s going to be a shameful moment for France.”

Another woman, “B”, told Amnesty International: “It is sad. It’s even shameful to be at this point in 2024, to block dreams just because of a piece of fabric.” 

In France, the prohibition on Muslim women from wearing any form of religious headgear extends far beyond the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Bans on hijabs are in place in several sports including football, basketball and volleyball, at both professional and amateur levels. These bans, put in place by sports federations, mean that many Muslim women are not only excluded from participating in sports but also never get the necessary training and competition opportunities to reach the Olympic level.           

France’s exclusionary bans cause humiliation, trauma and fear and have resulted in many women and girls dropping out of sports they love or even seeking opportunities in other countries. Preventing Muslim women and girls from fully and freely participating in sports, for leisure and recreation or as a career, can have devastating impacts on all aspects of their lives, including on their mental and physical health. 

Hélène Bâ, who hasn’t been allowed to compete in basketball since October 2023, told Amnesty International: “Mentally it is also hard because you really feel excluded…Especially if you go to the bench and the referee tells you to go to the ladders [stands]. Everyone sees you…it’s a walk of shame.”

Under international law, state neutrality or secularism (“laїcité”) are not legitimate reasons for imposing restrictions on freedom of expression and/or freedom of religion. And yet for several years, French authorities have been weaponizing these concepts to justify the enactment of laws and policies that disproportionately impact Muslim women and girls. And all of this is occurring against a backdrop relentless, twenty-year campaign of harmful lawmaking and regulation of Muslim women’s and girls’ clothing in France, fuelled by prejudice, racism and gendered Islamophobia.  

Founé Diawara, co-President of the football collective the Hijabeuses, told Amnesty International: “Our fight is not political or religious but centred on our human right to participate in sports.” 

No policymaker should dictate what a woman can or cannot wear and no woman should be forced to choose between the sport she loves and her faith, cultural identity, or beliefs

Anna Błuś

“No policymaker should dictate what a woman can or cannot wear and no woman should be forced to choose between the sport she loves and her faith, cultural identity, or beliefs,” said Anna Błuś. 

“It is not too late for the French authorities, sports federations and the IOC to do the right thing and to overturn all bans on athletes wearing the hijab in French sport, both at the summer Olympics and in all sport, at all levels.” 

Background

On 11 June, members of the Sport & Rights Alliance and Basket Pour Toutes published a letter written to the International Olympic Committee demanding that they 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. On 18 June, the IOC responded to the organisations.