Rabat – The Action Rights of Muslims Association (ADM), a French NGO, appealed to the State Council on Friday, requesting the suspension of the ban on abayas in schools.
The abaya ban is the most recent episode in France’s crusade against religious freedom. The measure was implemented at the beginning of the school year in the name of secularism.
According to the ADM’s lawyer, Master Vincent Brengarth, the NGO “appealed to the State Council to request the suspension of the ban on abayas in schools, which infringes upon several fundamental liberties.”
According to the filed appeal, ADM expresses concern about the possibility that this ban may lead to “ethnic profiling.”
Just days before the start of the school year, the association is asking the judge for interim measures to suspend the decision made by the Minister of Education on August 27, which prohibits the wearing of the long traditional robe in public schools, colleges, and high schools.
ADM’s lawyer further explained that the decision “infringes upon children’s rights because it appears to primarily target presumed Muslim children, which could pose a risk of ethnic profiling at school.”
The NGO equally argues that the restriction on abayas may further stigmatize Muslims and infringe upon their fundamental rights in the social, cultural, and educational spheres.
For the association, the measures could encourage “school staff to unjustly target young girls based on their Arab or African ethnic origins, which would be counterproductive and could lead to the exclusion of some of them from the education system.”
The French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM) had previously argued that the abaya was not “religious attire,” AFP reports.
The ADM Association believes that “the affected students will be denied clothing that allows them to express their attachment to a culture or geographic region, without violating secularism.”
The French association argues that “the ban is formulated in a vague and broad manner, which could mean a lack of specific indications regarding the incriminated clothing,” which raises concerns about potential abuses that could target students simply wanting to wear loose-fitting garments qualifying as abayas.
ADM further added that the ban may “encourage the staff of the national education system to demand that students disclose their religious beliefs to determine if their attire is religious or not, which would constitute a serious and manifestly illegal violation of the student’s right to privacy.”
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