Seized by the collective of “hijabeuses” who attacked the regulations of the French Football Federation prohibiting them from playing veiled football in competition, the highest French administrative court decided on June 29 to maintain this proscription. But the wise people of the Palais Royal went a little further in their judgment by specifying the status of the sportsmen and women selected for the French team. The Council of State in fact ensured that the principle of neutrality applied not only to agents of sports federations delegated public service, but also to “people whom the Federation selects from the French teams”.
A clarification recalled by the French Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra during a television program on September 24. Underlining the government’s attachment “to a regime of strict secularism, strictly applied in the field of sport”, she added that this meant “the prohibition of any form of proselytism. This means the absolute neutrality of the public service, so that the representatives of our delegations, in our French teams, will not wear the veil.
“Since the decision of the Council of State rendered in the “hijabeuses” affair, the state of French law has been clear: in the French team, an athlete cannot in principle wear a veil,” summarizes Mathieu Maisonneuve, professor of public law at the University of Aix-Marseille. This scenario has not yet arisen. This clarification from the minister only concerns the athletes of the French team, and in no case the athletes of the foreign delegations who will be present in Paris for the Olympics.
Each country sets the selection framework for its athletes itself. Once the athletes have been selected for their national teams, it is then within the framework of sports competitions that the question of wearing the hijab may arise. “For the sports competitions of the Paris 2024 Games, the wearing of the hijab depends on the competition regulations established by the International Federations (IF) concerned,” specified the IOC, interviewed by AFP. Some federations allow it, others not. “Athletes belonging to foreign delegations wishing to wear the veil in a sport authorizing it cannot obviously be prevented from doing so by French law,” recalls Mathieu Maisonneuve.
Another important clarification from the IOC provided to AFP: “In the Olympic village, athletes can freely wear the hijab.” A freedom which, however, French sportswomen may not necessarily enjoy according to Mathieu Maisonneuve: “French law does not stop at the gates of the Olympic village and it is not entirely clear that it allows a member of the French delegation to wear a veil there.
Two days after the statement by the Minister of Sports, the UN clearly distanced itself from the French position, recalling through the voice of the spokesperson for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Marta Hurtado, its opposition of principle of imposing on women what they should or should not wear. A sports organization affiliated with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said on Monday it was “deeply concerned” by this ban.
For this Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation (ISSF), based in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and with 57 predominantly Muslim member countries, the veil is “an aspect of the identity of many Muslim women” and must “be respected”. According to the ISSF, the French ban could prevent some French Muslim athletes from participating in the Olympics. But apart from these two reactions, the position of France, always isolated on these questions of secularism, has not raised more criticism. “The minister and the IOC have spoken since Sunday, and there is no problem,” the Sports Minister’s entourage assured AFP.