Rabat – France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’Etat, upheld yesterday a ban on the wearing of burkini swimwear in public pools, rejecting an appeal by the city of Grenoble.
On May 16, Grenoble authorized all swimwear in its public swimming pools, including burkinis and allowing women to swim topless. The city’s administrative court, however, suspended the wearing of burkinis, arguing that it violates “the principle of neutrality in public service.”
But the court did not repeal the city’s decision to allow women to swim topless.
The wearing of religious attire in public places threatens public order, the council’s ruling argued, saying that it “would result in a clear break in the equal treatment of users.”
In addition, the council claimed that “contrary to the stated objective of the city of Grenoble,” the city’s law “was intended only to authorize the wearing of the burkini in order to satisfy a religious demand.”
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The Conseil d’Etat said that the burkini ban is the “first application of the new secularism referral” against “cases of serious breaches of the principles of secularism and neutrality of public services.”
French Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin commended the Conseil d’Etat’s decision, calling it “a victory for the ‘separatism’ law, for secularism, and for the whole republic.”
Even though France is home to the largest Muslim population in Europe, it was the first European country to ban burkinis in 2011.
In 2016, the UN human rights office described France’s ban on the burkini as “a grave and illegal breach of fundamental freedoms,” adding that such prohibitions “fuel religious intolerance and the stigmatization of Muslims.”
