Photo d’illustration – AFP
Three days before the start of the school year, the association Action Droits des Musulmans asks the judge in chambers to “suspend the decision of August 27, 2023” of the Minister of Education prohibiting the wearing of this long traditional dress in schools.
The association Action Droits des Musulmans (ADM) on Friday seized the Council of State urgently to suspend the ban on the abaya at school, which risks creating “ethnic profiling”, according to the appeal filed by lawyers.
Three days before the start of the school year, the association asks the judge in summary proceedings to “suspend the decision of August 27, 2023” of the Minister of Education prohibiting the wearing of this long traditional dress in public schools, colleges and high schools, according to the appeal filed by Me William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth.
“A risk of ethnic profiling at school”
For the complainants, this decision “infringes the rights of the child, because it mainly targets presumed Muslim children, thus creating a risk of ethnic profiling at school”.
“This restriction of the abaya risks further stigmatizing Muslims and undermining their fundamental social, cultural and educational rights,” they add.
In practice, these measures “will cause school staff to unfairly target young girls based on their Arab or African ethnic origins”. Such targeting “is counterproductive and could lead to the exclusion of young girls from the education system”, according to the appeal.
Another argument developed: the pupils concerned will be prohibited from wearing an outfit “allowing them to express their attachment to a culture or a geographical region”. “However, such an attitude in no way undermines secularism,” add the complainants.
An “unjustified interference in the exercise of Muslim worship”
The summary denounces a ban “formulated in a vague and broad way”. With the consequence that “the absence of indication allowing to define the outfits” incriminated could target students simply wishing to wear “loose clothes likely to be qualified as abayas or qamis”.
The plaintiffs therefore fear that “this ban encourages National Education staff to require students to disclose their religious beliefs” to determine whether or not their outfit is religious. This would constitute “a serious and manifestly illegal attack on the right to respect for the privacy of students”.
“This unjustified interference in the exercise of Muslim worship is a serious and manifestly illegal attack on the freedom of worship”, adds the appeal.
The group La France insoumise announced on Tuesday August 29 that it planned to file an appeal before the Council of State against the decision taken by the Minister of National Education Gabriel Attal. “We must not use secularism to stigmatize a particular religion”, declared Manuel Bompard in particular.
Friday in Orange, Emmanuel Macron assured that “we must be intractable” to ban the abaya and the qamis at school, and promised that the government “will not let anything pass”.
Hugues Garnier with AFP BFMTV journalist
