The question of how a controversial measure under discussion to ban the use of the hijab in sports activities in France would influence the 2024 Paris Olympics remains unanswered.
The political debate in France is ongoing, and we still have to wait a few days to find out what will happen to this controversial proposal.
“Regarding your question, any comment would be speculative at this point in time”, an International Olympic Committee (IOC) official from Beijing, where he is for the Winter Olympics, told Around The Rings via email.
The French Senate, dominated by the right-wing Republican Party, proposed a law in late January banning the wearing of “conspicuous” religious symbols during sporting events and competitions organized by sports federations and affiliated associations.
The senators argued that headscarves could put the safety of female athletes who wear them at risk.
This amendment was rejected in the lower house on Wednesday, where President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist “Republic on the Move” party and its allies hold a majority.
The amendment being debated in both houses of Parliament has also aroused many reactions within the political class and has become a divisive issue.
Those who oppose this concept affirm that sport entails Republican integration and brotherhood, not hatred or division.
The amendment for the veil ban, against the Governing Council, has been proposed in the context of the discussions of the bill aimed at the democratization of sport in France.
The French Ministry of Sport has “deplored” the “instrumentalization” of the Sports Law under debate.
Given the disagreement, the text is scheduled for a new passage through the Senate on February 16, with a view to its final adoption on February 24.
Numerous athletes have competed wearing a hijab at the Olympic Games, while various designs of such headscarves have been developed to allow Muslim women to compete with their heads covered.
Large sporting goods companies have included Olympic athletes in their marketing strategies in promoting new brands of veils in all sports, although in France such marketing has had a very low profile.
The French Football Federation (FFF) prohibits the hijab to soccer players -for reasons of hygiene, safety and secularism, but other federations such as its handball counterpart allow it.
In 2014, FIFA definitively authorized the veil in its competitions, leaving its national affiliates free to ban it.
A group of French women soccer players seek to overturn the ban, and last Wednesday they demonstrated publicly. Meanwhile, the debates in the lower house took place on the proposal to eliminate the hijab, not only in soccer but in all sports.
Rules set by the FFF currently prevent players participating in competitive matches from wearing “ostentatious” religious symbols such as Muslim headscarves or the Jewish yarmulke.
The women’s collective known as “les Hijabeuses” launched a legal challenge to the rules in November of last year, claiming they were discriminatory and infringed on their right to practice their religion.
Two months before the French presidential elections, the issue has become recurrent in public opinion in a country that maintains a strict form of secularism seeking to separate state and religion.
It is estimated there are 5.4 million followers of Islam living in France.
With France set to host the next Summer Olympics in 2024, many have begun to worry if the proposed ban becomes law.
Although the IOC does not anticipate a statement on the matter, considering it premature, it observes the current process from a distance and seems to clear up any doubts about Paris 2024 regardless of any parliamentary decision.
“What we can tell you is that the mandate of the IOC is to ensure that there is no discrimination at the Olympic Games and that all athletes from the 206 National Olympic Committees and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team can compete and live together under one roof in the Olympic Village whatever their backgrounds or beliefs are and free from fear and any form of discrimination”, the IOC representative told Around the Rings.
“By carrying out this vital mission, the Olympic Games showcase how the world could be if the world would be free from any prejudice,” he said
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