The association Action Droits des Musulmans (ADM) denounces “a risk of ethnic profiling” and “an illegal attack on freedom of worship”.
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 the lawyers.
Three days before the start of the school year, the association asks the urgent applications judge to “suspend the decision of August 27, 2023of 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.
“Risk of ethnic profiling”
For the plaintiffs, this decision “infringes the rights of the child, as 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 measureslead school staff to unfairly target young girls based on their Arab or African ethnic origins“. Such targetingis counter-productive and could lead to the exclusion of young girls from the education system“, According to the appeal.
Expressing attachment “to a culture”
Another argument developed: the students concerned will be prohibited from wearing “allowing them to express their attachment to a culture or a region» geographic. “However, such an attitude in no way undermines secularism.“, add the complainants.
The summary denounces a ban “vaguely and broadly worded“. With the consequence that “the lack of indication allowing to define the outfitsincriminated could target pupils simply wishing to wearloose clothing likely to be qualified as abayas or qamis“.
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“An attack on freedom of worship”
The plaintiffs therefore fear that “this ban encourages National Education staff to require students to disclose their religious beliefsto determine whether or not their outfit is religious. which would constitute “a serious and manifestly illegal violation of the student’s right to privacy“.
“This unjustified interference in the exercise of Muslim worship is a serious and manifestly illegal attack on the freedom of worship.“, adds the appeal. Friday in Orange, Emmanuel Macron assured that “we must be intractableto ban the abaya and qamis from school, and promised that the governmentwon’t let anything go“.