A general view of the French National Assembly in Paris, France, on April 12, 2024. (Photo by Telmo … [+] Pinto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The French national assembly is to debate a bill that would ban the wearing of clothing associated with religious practice in all French sports, after it was adopted by the Senate. The bill, while not explicitly targeting the wearing of Muslim head coverings, has been condemned by human rights groups as discriminatory against the Muslim community. Campaigners argue it will further alienate French Muslims and immigrants from participation in French life.
The bill was submitted to the French senate by Senator Michel Savin with the right-wing Republican party. “In the world of sport, neutrality is essential,” said Savin in a press release accompanying the bill. It was adopted by the Senate, with 210 voting in favor and 81 against. It now needs to go through the national assembly, the lower house of French parliament, where it is expected to receive fierce resistance from the left-wing of the house.
The ban would mean the wearing of any clothing or symbols seen as outwardly religious would be banned from all competitions organized by France’s myriad sports federations, as well as related bodies and leagues, and even associated facilities such as swimming pools. The bill purports to defend the principle of laïcité, or the secularism embodied in the French constitution and legal framework.
Under laïcité, religion and religious expression is in theory meant to be excluded from public administration, meaning the state is ‘blind’ to religion and therefore cannot treat people differently based on it. Supporters of the principle argue it protects religious freedom for all, by keeping the state out of things. Critics argue that in practice the French state has invoked laïcité more often against people from the Muslim community than other religious groups, and that such a ban in sports would most significantly affect women who wear religious headscarves.
The issue was brought to the world’s attention during the 2024 Paris Olympics, when a similar restriction was introduced for French Olympians. The ban in effect prevented women athletes who choose to wear a Muslim headscarf, or hijab, from participating.
At the time, Hélène Bâ, a basketball player and campaigner on the matter, said the affair was “a clear violation of the Olympic charter, values and provisions, and an infringement on our fundamental rights and freedoms.” Independent United Nations human rights experts declared the ban to be discriminatory and, contrary to the purpoted aim, suppressive of individual freedoms of religious expression.
The bans on religious clothing have slowly entered numerous French sports associations and federations, and the current bill making its way through the French parliament would in effect unify them. Campaigners such as Hélène Bâ fear that if the bill were to be passed, it will be another barrier to young French Muslim women’s participation in French public life.
“This new law would have appalling consequences for Muslim women and girls,” said Bâ in a statement, “humiliation, stigmatization, trauma, withdrawal from sport, breakdown of social ties, loss of self-confidence, disappearance of women’s teams, endangerment of clubs.”
Supporter of the bill Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio argued in the Senate that the bill, rather than stigmatizing people, would uphold France’s tradition of secularity against what she described as Islamist “infiltration.” A minister for the French government also expressed support for the bill.
