Wednesday, November 03, 2021
After protests from France
Council of Europe discontinues pro-headscarf campaign
With an online project, the Council of Europe wants to set an example against discrimination against women wearing headscarves. But in France there are protests against the campaign. The Council of Europe then withdrew the tweets for the time being.
The Council of Europe withdrew an online campaign against discrimination against women wearing headscarves after sharp protests from France. The tweets had been deleted and their content was being reconsidered, the presentation of the project was being revised, said a spokeswoman for the Council of Europe. They showed the photomontage of a smiling young woman who on the left wears a pink headscarf with a wide cape and on the right red curly hair and dungarees.
France had been shocked by the tweets and made clear to the Council of Europe its “extremely great disapproval”, said French youth state secretary Sarah El Haïry. The tweets were then withdrawn. Despite the withdrawal, pictures and statements that apparently belonged to the campaign circulated on Twitter. “Beauty is in diversity as freedom is in hijab” was one of the headlines in English – for example, “Beauty is in diversity, like freedom in hijab”. The hijab is an Islamic headscarf that covers the hair, ears and neck.
The Council of Europe sees itself as the “guardian of human rights” and democracy. Based in Strasbourg, France, it is responsible, together with its Court of Justice, for upholding human rights in the 47 member states. It is not a body of the European Union.
In the French presidential election campaign, the representation met with bipartisan protests. Right-wing populist presidential candidate Marine Le Pen called the campaign “scandalous and indecent”. Millions of women rebelled against “submission” to Islam, she argued.
Campaign funded with 340,000 euros
Also part of the campaign was a video that showed a compilation of veiled and unveiled women. According to the Council of Europe, the project aims to promote diversity and integration and combat hatred and agitation. However, El Haïry sees it as an encouragement to wear a headscarf as part of identity politics, as she wrote on Twitter. “This position is diametrically opposed to the freedom of belief that France defends in all international spheres.” There have been heated debates about concealment in France for decades.
The European Union has funded the project, which aims to combat online hatred against Muslims and Jews, with 340,000 euros. The individual pictures were not discussed. Before you judge the whole project, you have to look at all of its parts, it said.