hearing Tuesday at the Council of State

The Council of State will examine on Tuesday September 5 the urgent request filed by an association against the ban on the abaya at school, we learned on Monday from the highest administrative court.

The Council of State will consider at 3 p.m. the summary liberty order, an emergency procedure, filed Friday on behalf of the association Action Droits des Musulmans (ADM) to obtain the suspension of this ban. In the case of summary proceedings, the administrative justice code provides that the decision is rendered within 48 hours after the conclusion of the investigation.

“Fuzzy and broad way”

The request targets an August 27, 2023 decision by the Minister of Education banning the wearing of the abaya, a long traditional dress, in public schools, colleges and high schools.

For the plaintiffs, this decision “violates the rights of the child, because it mainly targets children presumed to be Muslim, thus creating a risk of ethnic profiling at school”. This restriction risks “to undermine their fundamental social, cultural and educational rights”they add.

The summary also denounces a ban “formulated in a vague and broad manner”with the consequence that “the absence of any indication allowing the outfits to be defined” incriminated could target students simply wishing to wear “loose clothing likely to be described as abayas or qamis”. They are also worried about “unjustified interference in the exercise of Muslim worship”seeing “a serious and manifestly illegal attack on freedom of worship”.

Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne assured Monday that she was not aware of any incident on Monday at midday regarding the application of this ban. “Things are going well this morning”she assured during a trip to the start of the school year.