学校でのアバヤ着用禁止　仏裁判所、政府の決定支持

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】フランスの行政裁判所の終審である国務院は７日、イスラム教徒の服「アバヤ」の学校での着用を禁止するとした政府の決定を支持し、差別的で憎悪をあおりかねないとするイスラム教系団体からの訴えを退けた。（写真はフランス・マルセイユで、アバヤを着て街を歩く女性〈資料写真〉）
　エマニュエル・マクロン政権は先月、教育の場における世俗主義の規則に反するとして、学校でのアバヤ着用禁止を発表した。
　イスラム教系団体は国務院に対し、アバヤに加え、男性の長衣「カミス」の学校での着用禁止は、差別的でイスラム教徒に対する憎悪をあおる恐れがあり、「レイシャルプロファイリング」に当たると主張していた。
　国務院はこれを退け、今回の政府の決定は、学校では自分の信仰を示すシンボルを他者に見える所に身に着けてはならないとする法律に基づくものだと説明。その上で、「個人の生活、信仰の自由、教育を受ける権利、子どもの福祉差別禁止の原則の深刻かつ明白な侵害」には当たらないとの判断を示した。
　フランスの公式推計では、人口６７００万人のうち約１０％がイスラム教徒だとされる。その多くが、かつて植民地だった北アフリカのアルジェリア、モロッコ、チュニジアにルーツを持つ。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/09/11-15:01）

France's top administrative court on Thursday upheld a government ban on traditional over-garments worn by some Muslim women in schools and rejected complaints it was discriminatory and could incite hatred.
President Emmanuel Macron's government announced last month it was banning the abaya in schools as it broke the rules on secularism in education.
Muslim headscarves have already banned on the ground that they constitute a display of religious affiliation.
An association representing Muslims filed a motion with the State Council, France's highest court for complaints against state authorities, for an injunction against the ban on the abaya and the qamis, its equivalent dress for men.
The association said the ban was discriminatory and could incite hatred against Muslims, as well as racial profiling.
But after examining the motion -- filed by the Action for the Rights of Muslims (ADM) -- for two days, the State Council rejected the arguments.
It said wearing the abaya follows the logic of religious affirmation, adding that the decision was based on French law which did not allow anyone wearing visible signs of any religious affiliation in schools.
- 'No serious harm' -
The ban by the government did not, it said, cause serious or obviously illegal harm to the respect for personal lives, freedom of religion, the right to eduation, the well-being of children or the principle of non-discrimination.
Ahead of the ruling, France's Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), established to represent Muslims before the government, had warned that banning the abaya could create an elevated risk of discrimination and said it was considering putting its own complaint before the State Council.
The absence of a clear definition of this garment creates vagueness and legal uncertainty, it said.
ADM's lawyer, Vincent Brengarth, argued during the court hearing that the abaya should be considered a traditional garment, not a religious one.
He also accused the government of seeking political advantage with the ban.
ADM president Sihem Zine said the rule was sexist because it singles out girls and targets Arabs.
But the education ministry said the abaya made its wearers immediately recognisable as belonging to the Muslim religion, and therefore ran counter to France's secular culture.
French schools sent dozens of girls home for refusing to remove their abayas -- a shoulder-to-toe over-garment -- on the first day of the school year on Monday.
Nearly 300 schoolgirls defied the ban, Education Minister Gabriel Attal said.
Most agreed to change garments but 67 refused and were sent home, he said.
In 2016 the State Council overturned a ban in a French Riviera resort against the burkini, saying it failed to see any threat to public order from the long bathing suit worn by some Muslim women.
Around 10 percent of France's 67 million inhabitants are Muslim, according to official estimates.
Most have origins in northern African countries Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, which were French colonies until the second half of the 20th century.
burs/jh/ach