World Hijab Day 2022 #HandsOffMyHijab

Today marks World Hijab Day 2022. What is clear, is that the importance of this day has only increased since its inception – FEMYSO alongside our civil society partners would like to reiterate the clear statement #HandsOffMyHijab.  

The constant attack on the Hijab is centred in a patriarchal view that those in power have the right to legislate on women’s bodies. What a woman chooses to wear (and not to wear) is her own decision and those that seek to undermine this basic fundamental right should be seen as pariah.  

It is hypocrisy of the highest order to governments that seek to rightfully condemn other countries for human rights violations, to enact their own when it comes to the choice a Muslim woman makes whether to wear religious clothing.  

The recent decision by the French Senate to ban the Hijab in sports is one of many clear human rights violations that our region has seen. Sport is a unifying platform where one’s talent and work ethic should be the only consideration made. Instead, Muslim women now have to make the choice between wearing religious clothing and engaging in the sport they love.  

In July 2021, a political decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) was passed which once again gives a free pass to employers to ban the headscarf. This saw the ECJ prioritise the financial interests of employers and prejudiced customers as more important than the rights of those who are perpetually made vulnerable and kept in a vicious circle of discrimination. 

FEMYSO President Hande Taner said ‘My choice to wear the Hijab was my own and one that has led to numerous barriers being placed in front of me in my pursuit to help shape a more just world. The efforts by many across our region to limit Muslim women like myself due to this aspect of my faith is a shameful endeavour that the generations to come will look upon with shame – #HandsOffMyHijab and the Hijabs of all the incredible young women I represent across our region.’  

As part of our work to tackle Gendered Islamophobia, FEMYSO has launched a survey that seeks to tackle the issues faced by Muslim women in the job market, translated into 8 languages, please take part here.  

We once again call upon EU Member States to stop their obsession with Muslim women’s bodies. We call on the EU and all its institutions to recognise the impact of Gendered Islamophobia on its citizens and to work alongside civil society to implement impactful and holistic policy to tackle this human rights violation.
 

  1. FEMYSO (est. 1996) is a network organisation for 33 Muslim youth and student organisations across 20 European countries, and is the leading voice for European Muslim youth, developing and empowering them, and working to build a more diverse, cohesive and vibrant Europe.     
  1. For more media-related information or requests please email media@femyso.org. 

The attack on the Council of Europe’s Hijab campaign is an attack on human rights

A recent online campaign promoted and led by the Council of Europe’s Anti-Discrimination department, following a workshop in cooperation with FEMYSO, has been attacked by hypocritical French public and political figures who continue to exercise their double standards when it comes to the topic of human rights by promoting liberty only for some and especially not Muslim communities.  

The campaign for the celebration of diversity, including the headscarf, follows on from our collaboration with the Council of Europe’s Anti-Discrimination Department. This specific partnership was in the form of two online workshops aimed at creating human rights-based narratives to counter anti-Muslim hate speech, taking place from the 27-28 September, in a framework of a deep history and continuous forms of cooperation with other parts of the Council of Europe, such as the European Youth Centres and through our representation at the Council of Europe’s Advisory Council on Youth.

As experts on this we facilitated three groups to guide the participants through a process that aimed to analyse hate speech, develop our own human rights narrative as a response. The participants, who belonged to diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, proactively debated the challenges posed by Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate speech, crafting campaigns aimed at raising awareness on the aforementioned issues. The visual campaign showcasing diversity and portraying young Muslim women wearing the hijab, was a result of this workshop.  

As FEMYSO we are extremely sad to see efforts by Muslim youth once again attacked and undermined by individuals and governments alike. We are deeply concerned and saddened that our collaboration on building human-rights based narratives to tackle anti-Muslim hate speech was attacked. This is yet another example of how young progressive voices are sidelined and Muslim women’s rights are non-existent to those who abuse notions such as liberty, secularism, equality and freedom. 

These attacks on this vital campaign take place in a wider environment of a shrinking of civic space, where government actors routinely censor and limit the freedom of speech when not fitting their political agenda. Such backlash and attacks supported by unfounded arguments, ostracise the work that we do as a civil society and hinders our attempt to represent the voices of those whose voice is not always heard.  

FEMYSO President Hande Taner said “In the face of such heavy racist and anti-Muslim attacks, institutions should stand firm in their messaging in support of human rights, condemning the violation of the freedom of speech and freedom of religion. We firmly believe that everyone has the right and freedom to wear (and not to wear) what they want. Those two are not extremes and do not exclude each other, rather they go together. This is a basic fundamental right.” 

At FEMYSO we will continue to participate proactively in the public debate by protecting human and fundamental rights, by organising trainings and campaigns, and by standing in solidarity with our civil society partners against all forms of oppression. 

Notes:   

  1. FEMYSO (est. 1996) is a network organisation for 33 Muslim youth and student organisations across 20 European countries, and is the leading voice for European Muslim youth, developing and empowering them, and working to build a more diverse, cohesive and vibrant Europe.    
  2. For more media-related information or requests please email media@femyso.org.

The EU Court of Justice institutionalises sexism and Islamophobia again

Brussels, 16 July 2021  

At FEMYSO, we are utterly outraged at the political decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which once again gives a free pass to employers to ban the Islamic headscarf. This is nothing less than a blatant reduction of the rights of visibly Muslim women in the EU, and thus nothing less than the institutionalisation of Islamophobia.  

Disguised under a layer of ‘neutrality’, the judgement in the joined cases C-804/18 and C-341/19, Wabe and Müller, on the right to wear religious clothing (headscarf) at work, solely panders to the prejudices of customers and employers by favouring racism over the right to non-discrimination. Indeed, the ECJ prioritises the financial interests of employers and prejudiced customers as more important than the rights of those who are perpetually made vulnerable and kept in a vicious circle of discrimination. This case demonstrates that Muslim lives are a justifiable exception to otherwise robust anti-discrimination legislation in the EU.  

Instead of acting as a powerful voice for the social and human aspect of European integration and protecting the rights of those who are most marginalised in our “Union of Equality”, this ruling provides a legal basis for further discrimination against Muslim Women in the job market. In simple terms, the prejudices of some are being placed above the human rights of others.

This political act adds to the hostile environment that Muslim communities face across our region. The 

Impact of islamophobia on our lives both in a structural sense – of which this is an example – and everyday prejudice, cannot be understated, with Muslim women most often as the biggest victims who.

We call on the European Court of Justice to revise this judgement, and EU Member States to stop the obsession with Muslim women’s bodies. We call on the EU and all its institutions to recognise the impact of Islamophobia on its citizens and to work alongside civil society to tackle this disease.

 

Notes   

  1. FEMYSO (est. 1996) is a network organisation for 33 Muslim youth and student organisations across 20 European countries, and is the leading voice for European Muslim youth, developing and empowering them, and working to build a more diverse, cohesive and vibrant Europe.  
  2. Graphic design credits: Limma Ali / Ali.Illustrate
  3. The Times, 15 July 2021 “Hijab can be banned at work, rules EU court” https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hijab-can-be-banned-at-work-rules-eu-court-g8px0mlms?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1626347525  
  4. Al Jazeera, 15 July 2021 “Top EU court rules hijab can be banned at work” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/15/top-eu-court-rules-hijab-can-be-banned-at-work  
  5. For more information or requests please email media@femyso.org.