Four months after the decision of the Council of State ratifying the ban on the veil in competitions organized by the French Football Federation (FFF), this highly sensitive theme is making a comeback in the world of sport. Last Sunday, on the show Sunday in politics on France 3, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, Minister of Sports, extended the ban on the veil to the entire French delegation during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
No French athlete will therefore be able to wear the veil during the next Olympics, whatever the discipline. A new regulation which caused a reaction even at the UN which was moved by the voice of Marta Hurtado, spokesperson for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who believes that “no one should impose on a woman what she should or should not wear. Not enough to shake the minister, who came to reaffirm her position at the microphone of Europe 1 in the show The studio of legends.
A “difference of approach”
“I first restated the law. We had a recent decision from the Council of State which explains very clearly that the constitutional principle of secularism, the way in which it is expressed in sport, is a principle for all those who are selected by their federation as the French team”, she explained, thus highlighting “the application of strict neutrality” which translates into “the impossibility of demonstrating in an ostentatious manner, as via the wearing of the veil, an affiliation or a religious conviction”.
If Article 50 of the Olympic Charter also prohibits all propaganda, whether political or religious, the International Olympic Committee, believes the minister, “approaches the question of the veil as if it were an element cultural and non-cultual. Amélie Oudéa-Castéra therefore recognizes a “difference of approach” between the two parties, which however does not hinder the “dialogue”.
A French specificity
For the Minister of Sports, there is no question, however, of denying the French “specificity” in this area, “known internationally”. But the person concerned assures her: discussions with the UN will continue on the issue. “They know how much we care about their words and how they promote values with which we are deeply aligned.”