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UN criticizes French ban of niqab

24-10-2018

The UN Human Rights Committee disclosed on Tuesday that France’s ban on face veil (niqab) is in violation of human rights and therefore should be reviewed. The Committee clarified in a statement that France did not succeed in justifying the ban and gave it 180 days to report on its implementation of the UN ruling. To recall, the results reached by the UN Committee followed complaints filed by two French women who were indicted in 2012 according to the Law No. 2010 which states that “no one may, in a public space, wear any article of clothing intended to conceal the face”. The UN committee statement said it was not satisfied or persuaded by France’s allegation that the ban on the niqab was necessary or proportionate from a security perspective or for realizing the goal of coexistence in society. It said the ban disproportionately harmed the right of the two Muslim women in expressing their religious beliefs, which could force them to stay home and hence to marginalizing them, and asked the French authorities to pay restitution. The decisions of the UN Human Rights Committee, which include a group of experts monitoring the commitment of states to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, are not legally binding, but France is obliged to comply with it in good faith by virtue of an optional protocol to the Covenant. (Al Mustaqbal, October 24, 2018)

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