BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 9. In many Western
societies, Muslim women are subjected to various forms of religious
discrimination, Head of the Office of the Commissioner for Human
Rights (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan, member of the Independent
Standing Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation (IPHRC OIC) Aydin Safikhanli said, Trend reports.
First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the
conference participants for the interesting, effective and
productive discussions they have had over the past two days to
combat Islamophobia.
As we know that, discrimination, in all its possible forms and
manifestations, is one of the most common forms of human rights
violations and abuses. It affects millions of people every day and
is one of the most difficult to recognize.
Freedom of religion and religious tolerance are fundamental
values in the world, but acts of discrimination based on religion
have not yet disappeared. Religious intolerance is often linked to
racism and xenophobia, especially Islamophobia.
Today, Islamophobia manifests itself in various aspects and
results in gross violations of human rights and freedoms. The
effects of Islamophobia on women were more serious and urgent
action was needed to address such situations.
I would like to draw attention to the restrictions imposed on
the freedom of thought, conscience and religion of Muslim women.
This includes restrictions on the dress of Muslim women and
multiple forms of discrimination.
In defending the freedom of choice of Muslim women,
international organizations must find solutions that would help
protect their fundamental rights.
The denial of the rights of Muslim women occurred in the context
of the growing Islamophobia in Europe, particularly in France, a
problem that disproportionately affected women, who were easily
identified as Muslims.
Many European countries had laws prohibiting the wearing of
religious dress, and Muslim women also faced indirect pressure from
political discourse, social expectations and the media. This is a
gross violation of the right to liberty.
Restrictions on religious clothing are often justified within
the framework of the neutrality that applies to people of all
faiths, but in reality, they are directed only against Muslim women
and are part of a broader debate about that Islam is incompatible
with Western values. Stigmatization and stereotyping of Muslim
women denied them a voice, ignored their diversity and incited
hatred that led to harassment and violence. This is evidenced by
the increasing number of violent attacks on Muslim women wearing
headscarves, as well as their experience of discrimination at work
and in other areas of life.
Such cases of discrimination violated the fundamental rights and
freedoms of Muslim women, including the right to education.
For example, in 2004, France banned the wearing of religious
symbols, including the hijab, in schools, and in 2010 it extended
the ban on wearing headscarves in public places.
In a television interview, French Minister of Education Gabriel
Attal announced his decision to ban the wearing of Abayas’ dresses
in schools. He said that “it is impossible to determine the
religious affiliation of students at the entrance of the class only
by their clothes”.
The representative of the French Government, Olivier Veran, also
supported this view, calling the Abaya “not only a religious dress
but also a political statement”.
All this shows that Islamophobia is a French State policy.
Muslim women face violations of their fundamental rights and
discrimination on the basis of both religion and gender. Numerous
examples show that Muslim women bear the brunt of this
intersectional nature of discrimination in their daily lives, also
living in societies where gender discrimination remains a major
problem.
However, for Muslim women, gender discrimination is often masked
as an attempt to promote gender equality, arguing, for example,
that women in burqas cannot be free. These arguments deny Muslim
women the right to self-determination and rarely allow them to
speak for themselves.
In modern Europe, we are now faced with a situation where
prejudices based on religion or gender are considered illegal, but
an exception is made for Muslim women. Politicians who do not
consider it permissible to interfere in the choice of women’s
clothing often make judgements about the dress of a Muslim
woman.
We are deeply concerned that the gender equality proclaimed in
the EU is threatened by increasingly blatant discrimination based
on religious beliefs. Some European countries must take a firm
stand against any form of religious intolerance and gender
inequality.
The stigmatization and exclusion of Muslim women will continue
to reinforce social divisions, deepen exclusion and create
additional tensions in Europe, which desperately needs greater
social participation and the involvement of all sectors of society.
A continent that prides itself on the rule of law cannot, above
all, continue to witness an open violation of the fundamental
rights of part of its population.
The ban on hijab spreads to other fields of life. Athletes
representing France would be barred from wearing headscarves during
the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris because of the French way of
approaching secularism and religious symbols according to French
Minister of Sport, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, who highlighted the
“representatives of our delegations, in our French teams, will not
wear the headscarf”.
Implementation of such policies through institutions legitimizes
Islamophobia across various public and private spheres and promotes
negative attitudes and discrimination toward Muslims.
Despite the UN declaring the face veil ban as a violation of
human rights in 2018 calling for France to review its ban on
full-face coverings, and criticizing the latest decision on the
2024 Olympics as discrimination against women, the government
continues to justify these restrictions in the name of
secularism.
These facts also show the extent to which France has complied
with its international obligations.
These measures have fueled a continuing debate about
Islamophobia in France, as they appear to disproportionately target
Muslims. Islamophobia reports highlight that, to distract society
from national issues, Muslims in France often become subjects of
political arguments as a threat to secularism. Demonizing Muslims
prevents voicing the serious problems Muslim French citizens face
in the country. This situation raises critical questions about the
balance between protecting secularism as a way to separate church
and state and respecting religious freedom, particularly in
relation to the Muslim population.
Among many, the prohibition of the hijab in France deserves
special attention from various points of view, as it denies Muslim
women access to basic institutions such as education and work.
Since the hijab is a visible Muslim dress only for women,
discrimination against the hijab is considered a form of
gender-based Islamophobia, meaning that women experience
Islamophobia differently than men. The approach to this issue from
the perspective of women’s rights and gender equality is therefore
particularly important for understanding the place of Muslim women
wearing the hijab in France relative to other women in the
country.
In many Western societies, Muslim women are subjected to various
forms of religious discrimination. Research shows that religion
plays a more important role than race and ethnicity in employment.
For example, an experiment in Germany that was conducted with three
identical fictional resumes for job applications showed that a
Muslim-named résumé and a picture of a hijab were the least
suitable compared to those that with a Muslim name and a photo
without a hijab, and compared to the CV character with a German
name and image.
While the French Muslim women also reported similar experiences
in the labor market, compared to other countries, France is a
unique case as it does not allow hijab-wearing women to work at any
rank in public institutions at all, and the private sector is
reluctant to hire these women by taking shelter behind the
secularist discourse of the French government. Such policy-driven
discrimination leads to systematic disenfranchisement against
Muslim women in the French labor market.
I would like to note with regret that such illegal acts, which
lead to gross violations of human rights and freedoms, are being
supported and reinforced at the State level in France. I believe
that international organizations should not remain indifferent to
these facts and should prevent such situations.
Dear Conference Participants,
Another issue to which I would like to draw your attention is
the special protection of women in international humanitarian law.
However, I would like to note with regret that Islamophobia is once
again leading to discrimination and gross violations of the human
rights of Muslim women under the IHL.
As we know that, in international armed conflicts, women are
among those protected by the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to
the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. In these
circumstances, they shall benefit from all provisions which
enshrine the basic principle of humane treatment, including respect
for life and physical and moral integrity, in particular the
prohibition of coercion, corporal punishment, torture, collective
punishment, repression, robbery and hostage taking.
I would like to note with regret that, for some reason, these
commitments have not been taken into account with regard to Muslim
women, and that Muslim women suffer most from war crimes.
I would like to inform you that thousands of Azerbaijani Muslim
women have been killed and subjected to violence during the war
crimes committed as a result of ethnic cleansing and the genocidal
policy pursued by Armenia against Azerbaijan in recent decades.
The Azerbaijani women was killed and subjected to violence for
the reason that they were Muslims and they were Turks. All these
crimes are clear manifestations of Islamophobia and
Turkophobia.
As can be seen, the existence of Islamophobia is the cause of
gross violations of human rights and freedoms, and each of us must
join our efforts to prevent such cases.