08 Dec - France:

For the third time in two years, the tombs of hundreds of Muslim war veterans
were desecrated at a cemetery in northern France on Sunday night, the eve of the
Id al-Adha holiday. Swastikas and anti-Muslim slogans were spray-painted on
nearly all the 576 Muslim graves at the Notre Dame de Lorette military cemetery,
near Arras, which holds the remains of about 40,000 dead from World War I. The
last such desecration was in April. In a statement, President Nicolas Sarkozy
condemned the act as “revolting” and “an expression of repugnant racism against
France’s Muslim community.”

Link

05 Dec - Europe:

The European Court of Human Rights has dismissed a complaint by two French Muslim girls that their school violated their freedom of religion and their right to an education. The girls were expelled after repeatedly refusing to remove their headscarves for physical education classes.

The teacher had said that wearing a headscarf was incompatible with physical education classes. The girls, Belgin Dogru and Esma-Nur Kervanci, are French nationals and were 11 and 12 respectively when they were expelled from the school in the north-western town of Flers in 1999.

Based in Strasbourg, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday, Dec. 4 that the school's move to expel the girls was not out of line, emphasizing that the girls had been able to continue their education via correspondence classes.

Link

President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday made it clear that Sikhs could not hope to be above the rules in France.

He was replying to a question on the controversy over Sikh students being prohibited from wearing turban to educational institutions.

Mr. Sarkozy was unambiguous and firm: “The Sikhs were most welcome; but we have rules, rules of secularism” which were applicable to all “on the territory of France.”

In this insistence on uniform application of rules, “there was no discrimination.” [Link]

France's supreme court upheld a decree that refused citizenship to a Muslim woman from Morocco, ruling that she had failed to assimilate French culture. It was ruled that her radical practice of Islam is incompatible with French values.

On June 27, 2008, the Council of State (Conseil d’Etat), the French Supreme Administrative Court, upheld a Prime Minister’s decree refusing citizenship to a Moroccan woman who was married to a French national and had two French children. The Council’s decision was based on the grounds that the woman lacked assimilation to French society because of her radical practice of religion, deemed incompatible with the essential values of the French community, in particular equality of the genders. These findings were supported by elements in the court file that the Moroccan woman was a Salafist Muslim and wore the Burqa. [Link]

THREE Sikh students have been expelled from a French school for refusing to remove turbans.
It was the first time Sikhs were forced out under a new French law banning conspicuous religious signs and apparel in the classroom, their lawyer said.

Officials of the Louise Michel high school in Bobigny, near Paris, decided to expel the three
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teenagers at disciplinary hearings ordered by a court, said lawyer Felix de Belloy.

The ruling was the latest twist in France’s effort to apply a new law banning religious symbols at public schools. The ban, which includes Islamic headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses, took effect at the start of the school year.

At least eight Muslim girls have been expelled under the law. Islamic headscarves were its main target because of concerns that growing Muslim fundamentalism in France was weakening the nation’s secular roots.

Turbans were not a focus of the debate over the measure, but Sikhs later learned the head covering would also be outlawed.

The Sikh boys had been suspended since September 23 pending this week’s disciplinary hearings.

A court last month ordered the hearings to decide the fate of the boys, who had been confined to classes in a cafeteria, apart from other students, since the start of the school year.

Sikhs had asked the court to force school officials to take action by either accepting or expelling the boys.

The Sikh students had made a concession by agreeing to wear a "keski" - a smaller version of the full turban, but the disciplinary panel did not accept that offer, de Belloy said.

"I think school officials are a bit afraid that if they admit the Sikhs, then young Muslim girls would say it’s unfair," he said. "It’s not a big surprise."

For traditional Sikhs, external appearance is sacred and men and boys who practise the faith wear turbans to cover their unshorn hair. [Link]

The French ban on turbans for Sikh boys at school has brought extraordinary problems for parents and extraordinary solutions.

When Sikh boys play on the streets of Paris, their parents can worry in more ways than one.

Because they never know when it could become all play and no work - they run the risk of being stopped from going to school.

President Sarkozy introduced a law as home minister in 2004 banning essentially the headscarf for Muslim girls going to school; but the law also roped in the Sikh children.

“The first day I went, they asked me to take the turban off, now I cover my head with a handkerchief and go,” says a Sikh boy.

As the French see it, they are defending the principle of secular separation of religion from state. But for the minorities, it is a denial of religious rights.

Sundri Kaur a resident of Paris says, "In France I think a lot of people want to try to understand but we need time to understand and I think it is very important for Sikh people to be present, be involved, in action, political, social and cultural, and time after time I think French people can understand."

Teaching the French a lesson or two is Gurdial Singh, who is starting a school where children of all religions can practice their faith openly. The classrooms are ready for the students who can in a sense circumvent the French system.

Singh says, “I want every religion children to come here and respect the children and college also but if anybody respects their religion and comes here, I respect them."

Sikhs are preparing to beat the French ban on the turban by opening school especially for Sikhs and for others to practice their faith as freely and as visibly as they like. [Link]

"Everyone has the same prejudices and negative image of Muslims and Islam," said Moroccan-born El Alaoui Talibi, 47, the mother of seven children. "When some guards see you, they see an Arab; they see you the same as if you were a prisoner."

This prison is majority Muslim -- as is virtually every house of incarceration in France. About 60 to 70 percent of all inmates in the country's prison system are Muslim, according to Muslim leaders, sociologists and researchers, though Muslims make up only about 12 percent of the country's population.

On a continent where immigrants and the children of immigrants are disproportionately represented in almost every prison system, the French figures are the most marked, according to researchers, criminologists and Muslim leaders.

"The high percentage of Muslims in prisons is a direct consequence of the failure of the integration of minorities in France," said Moussa Khedimellah, a sociologist who has spent several years conducting research on Muslims in the French penal system.

In Britain, 11 percent of prisoners are Muslim in contrast to about 3 percent of all inhabitants, according to the Justice Ministry. Research by the Open Society Institute, an advocacy organization, shows that in the Netherlands 20 percent of adult prisoners and 26 percent of all juvenile offenders are Muslim; the country is about 5.5 percent Muslim. In Belgium, Muslims from Morocco and Turkey make up at least 16 percent of the prison population, compared with 2 percent of the general populace, the research found.

Sociologists and Muslim leaders say the French prison system reflects the deep social and ethnic divides roiling France and its European neighbors as immigrants and a new generation of their children alter the demographic and cultural landscape of the continent.

French prison officials blame the high numbers on the poverty of people who have moved here from North African and other Islamic countries in recent decades. "Many immigrants arrive in France in difficult financial situations, which make delinquency more frequent," said Jeanne Sautière, director of integration and religious groups for the French prison system. "The most important thing is to say there is no correlation between Islam and delinquency."

But Muslim leaders, sociologists and human rights activists argue that more than in most other European countries, government social policies in France have served to isolate Muslims in impoverished suburbs that have high unemployment, inferior schools and substandard housing. This has helped create a generation of French-born children with little hope of social advancement and even less respect for French authority.

"The question of discrimination and justice is one of the key political questions of our society, and still, it is not given much importance," said Sebastian Roche, who has studied judicial discrimination as research director for the French National Center for Scientific Research. "We can't blame a state if its companies discriminate; however, we can blame the state if its justice system and its police discriminate." [Link]

By staff writers
19 Jan 2008
Sikhs from across the world will be joining in moral and practical support of a peace march in New Delhi, India, today to protest against a French secularity law that bans the wearing of sacred turbans in schools and other work places throughout the country.
The one kilometre march from Gurudwara Bangla Sahib to Jantar Mantar, prefiguring the arrival of the controversial French president next week, will be followed by a candle light vigil.
The new law in France prohibits all “ostensible” religious articles - including the Sikh turban, the Muslim hijab, the Jewish Kippa and Christian crosses in public schools in France.
For Sikhs, the turban is one of five key symbols of their faith. For those who wear it, it is not just a head-dress but an extension of who they are as a person. It is also a willingly accepted obligation in a way that a cross, for example, is not for Christians.
Eastern Orthodox Christians wear a cross which is consecrated for them at the change of name they have through baptism, but it is usually worn under the clothing, for example.
Civil rights campaigners say that the French law is unacceptably prohibitive, and an example of "eliminative secularism" - a version of secularity which is not simply about equal treatment and the denial of privilege to any one group, religious or non-religious, but a deliberate attempt to deny any visibility to religion in public life.
The march is taking place a week ahead of French President Sarkozy’s arrival as chief guest at the 58th Indian Republic Day celebrations.
Six Sikh schoolchildren and two adults have unsuccessfully turned to the French courts for redress. They are now appealing their cases to the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
United Sikhs, a body which brings together Sikh people from the India, the USA, Canada, Britain, Ireland and elsewhere, will file for third party intervention in these cases in order to reinforce the importance of the turban to Sikhs.
The turban, they point out, poses no security threat as a Sikh is recognizable only with and because of the turban and not without it. Further it does not interfere with identification in today’s age of biometric photos.
A number of national and international Sikh organizations are participating in the march.celebration. Over 2,000 Sikh school pupils and 1,000 Sikh college students will join in the candle light vigil.
Delegates from Dharmik Ekta Mission, Shromani Akali Dal (Panthic), Shromani Akali Dal Delhi, and the International Sikh Confederation are expected to take part in the nonviolent protest.
United Sikhs aims to "recognise the human race as one" and to work with minority and underprivileged communities for empowerment, spiritual development, education and understanding.

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/6614

The visit of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to India is not going to a smooth affair as the Sikh community is all set to raise the issue of banning turbans in French schools.

Almost three years after conspicuous religious symbols were banned in schools in France, the ban on turbans is being raised once again in Punjab.

The Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to raise the matter with Sarkozy when he arrives in New Delhi later this month.

"We are hopeful they'll give us the time to discuss it," SGPC Secretary Harbeant Singh says.

Sikhs are agitated over the issue and want it to be resolved soon.

"A Sikh is recognized by his turban only," Sukhwinder Singh says.

Sikh groups believe Manmohan Singh is sensitive to their concerns and would surely take up the matter with Sarkozy, who'll be chief guest at the Republic Day parade this year. They are trying for a meeting with the French President himself.

"We are pressing the French Government to restore the fundamental rights of Sikhs living in France," Kanwar Pal Singh, General Secretary of Dal Khalsa, says.

Whether or not they succeed in meeting the French President, Sarkozy surely will take back memories of lots of turbans from India. [Link]

The strict imposition of the ban on the wearing of religious symbols in public schools continues in France and more and more girls from the Muslim community now take off their headscarves before entering the schools.

However, the Sikh community is still resisting and trying hard to get a Sikh school to sidestep the law.

These Sikhs live in a country where the law insists on separating religion from the state and where people in general find overtly religious behaviour shocking.

The ban on religious symbols from public schools in 2004 has made things even tougher for them.

''They threw me out of school. I got a letter saying I can't study at school,'' said Maha Singh.

NDTV: So where do you study now?

Maha Singh: I don't. I work with my father.

Gurdayal singh, a local businessman says he's all set to run a school that respects all French norms.

It's been two months since the inauguration of the school building but the French education authority is not allowing them to hold classes.

''The first commission asked us to make changes all of which we made and then another commission said do this and that. It seems they are creating confusion again, by saying on the one hand that you can go ahead but then using the commission to block approvals,'' said Gurdayal Singh.

For now, religious camps are held in the campus and trainers insist that this should not be viewed as religious activism but simply an effort to give back to the children their lost confidence.

''The French think that the turban is just like an object that you put on when you pray, like it is for other people in other faiths. I think it's just a bit of miscommunication and a bit of cultural ignorance,'' said Loveleen Kaur, Trainer.

For the last three years, Sikhs have been trying to convince authorities to allow their children to go to school with turbans and now it seems that getting the school running will be a long administrative battle for the Sikh community in France. [Link]

A FRENCH court yesterday fined a guesthouse owner who refused to give a room to a woman wearing a Muslim headscarf unless she removed it in common areas.

Found guilty of religious discrimination, Yvette Truchelut, 54, was handed a suspended four-month prison sentence and fined 1,000 euros (£700). She will have to pay a total of 7,400 to the plaintiff and rights groups that brought the action.

Horia Demiati, who is of Moroccan origin, chose to leave the guesthouse in eastern France rather than comply with the owner's demand.

In 2004, France passed a law banning religious garb, notably Muslim headscarves, from state schools. [Link]

A Sikh school is opening its doors in a Paris suburb for the first time on Saturday in the wake of tougher French laws on religious dress.

The special school in Bobigny was set up after secularisation laws in 2004 prevented Sikh boys from wearing their traditional turbans in class.

Several boys dropped out of mainstream education in protest.

The Sikh school was built by a local entrepreneur whose son was excluded from a public school three years ago.

The boy had refused to remove his turban in class.

The French laws ban the wearing of prominent religious symbols such as Muslim headscarves or Sikh turbans in public places like offices or schools.

The Sikh school will start with fewer than 15 pupils but it is hoped that a Sikh college will open later in the year to allow older boys to take business qualifications.

Although the school will celebrate its inauguration over the weekend, it is unlikely to begin classes on Monday because it is still waiting for a final approval from the local education authority. [Link]

Eighteenth-century English jurist William Blackstone said, “The law is the embodiment of the moral sentiment of the people.” The manner in which a society treats its religious minorities equally speaks about the value that society places on religious liberty.

The accommodation of religious minorities is a significant canary in the mine shaft. In recent times, the Western world’s record in this regard has been inconsistent at best. One immediately recalls France’s ban on religious symbols and clothing in its schools. Other than a fear or discomfort with the unusual or unattractive, how can a society that values individual freedom embrace such bans?....

On the one hand, standards that protect the lives and safety of people in the community are laudable. On the other, some of these standards go beyond that, communicating a refusal to accommodate cultural or religious differences. For example, one of the standards states that “children cannot carry any weapons … symbolic or not.” On first blush, that makes perfect sense. Why should students be armed?

Gurbaj was initially successful, but lost on appeal. He then appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Court acknowledged that freedom of conscience and religion as guaranteed in section 2(a) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms can be limited when a person’s freedom to act may cause harm to or interfere with the rights of others. However, the Court reiterated prior decisions that required the state to justify any restrictions on freedom of religion it has chosen.6


The Court was convinced that Gurbaj Multani, an orthodox Sikh, sincerely believed that he was required to wear his metal kirpan at all times, even in bed. In essence, young Gurbaj was being compelled to either abandon his religious belief or leave the public school system. As such, there was little doubt that his freedom of religion was compromised.

The Court went on to accept that the school board’s objective of ensuring safety in schools was important, potentially important enough to override a constitutional right. However, the school board did not minimally impair Gurbaj’s rights, since he was prepared to accept conditions on the wearing of the kirpan designed to alleviate safety concerns. Gurbaj had never had behavioral problems, and the probability that the kirpan would ever be used for violence was very low.7 He would wear it under his clothes, in a wooden sheath, and wrapped and sewn securely in a sturdy cloth envelope.8


The Supreme Court of Canada held that failing to accommodate Gurbaj’s religious practice contravened the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. This decision is consistent with Canadian human rights jurisprudence, in which reasonable accommodation of religion is deeply entrenched. 9


The Multani decision affirmed, probably conclusively, that democratic efforts to prevent the wearing of religious clothing or symbols in schools in Canada will not be acceptable. This should differentiate Canada from France, in which a ban on religious clothing in schools has apparently met with general acceptance.

The Multani case shows there is a real need for good constitutional protection from the vagaries of public opinion, like the opinion inherent in Hérouxville’s “standards.” It should have been a clear signal to Hérouxville that its democratically motivated attempts at compelling homogeneity of cultural and religious practices within its community are out of step with Canadian constitutional precedent.

Compare that with the “jilbab” case from the United Kingdom, which is reminiscent of France’s ban on religious apparel in schools.
Although Canada remains very similar to the United Kingdom in its laws and legal traditions, it appears to be significantly departing from this close relationship in how it deals with religious accommodation in public schools.

In the Begum case,10 the House of Lords11 struck down the complaint of a student who was prohibited from wearing a jilbab to school. A jilbab is a long, flowing, baggy overgarment worn by some Muslim women who believe that it fulfills the Islamic demands for modesty, or “hijab.” The modern jilbab covers the entire body, except for hands, feet, face, and head (which is then covered by a scarf or wrap).

Denbigh High School refused to allow Ms. Begum, then 14 years old, to wear a jilbab. It required her to wear either the school uniform or a “shalwar kameeze,” another form of religious dress that was worn by some Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh students, and was approved by the school. The problem was that Ms. Begum and her family did not believe that the shalwar kameeze met her religious requirements because it did not conceal the contours of the female body to the same extent as the jilbab.

Similar to the Canadian Court’s finding in Multani , the House of Lords accepted that Ms. Begum sincerely believed that she was religiously required to wear the jilbab and categorized the ultimate issue as whether her right to manifest her religious belief should be subject to a justifiable limitation.12 The applicable provision of the European Convention on Human Rights is similar in text and structure to the portions of the CanadianCharter of Rights and Freedoms that was an issue inMultani.
13 As such, there were similarities both in legal structure and in the factual substance of the cases. Both cases came down to the issue of reasonable justification of the infringement of religious freedom.

Lord Bingham of Cornhill thought it would be best to defer to the decision of the school, as it had a “power of decision” with respect to uniforms and was “best placed to exercise it.”14 He held that the school did not intend to exclude Ms. Begum from the school; it wanted only to ensure that Ms. Begum adhered to its uniform policy. He rejected the concept of adverse effect discrimination of Ms. Begum in the case by holding that she was not, de facto, excluded from the school. 15The precedent of Multani was brought to his attention, but he dismissed the comparison out of hand. 16

Another of the Law Lords, Lord Hoffmann, concluded similarly, relying on prior European authority holding that the rights of a man who became a Seventh-day Adventist in Finland were not infringed when he was required to work after sundown on Fridays, since he was “free to relinquish his post.” 17

This analysis cannot hold up to scrutiny. Ms. Begum’s right to attend school was removed because of her need to conform to a standard of dress she believed was required by her religious beliefs. It is an impoverished sense of religious liberty to grant a person a choice between adhering to their religious practices and leaving their job or a public school. A robust sense of religious freedom and a society that values such freedom accommodates religious practices, except to the extent that such practices cause real harm or undermine the rights of others.

The fact that Denbigh High School wanted to maintain a certain standard of dress does not rise to the level that should be required to undermine religious liberty. Ms. Begum was not undermining the morals of the school by immodest dress. Quite the contrary: Ms. Begum found the required dress to be insufficiently modest. The only complaint was that she did not conform and, perhaps, that her preferred style of dress made others uncomfortable, as it was out of step with modern feminist thinking.

Lord Scott of Foscote found the discrimination against Ms. Begum to be reasonable since “Muslims are well represented in the management structure of the school,”18 and the shalwar kameeze was designed to be “suitable for Muslim girls.” 19 That is irrelevant.

Religion and religious observance are deeply personal and must be examined on the basis of how each individual sincerely believes he or she is required to obey God. The extent to which accommodation of religion should be achieved must be examined on an individual basis, examining primarily the sincerity of the religious claim and whether it causes actual harm to others. [Link]

Sikhs have gone to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to challenge a French law banning the wearing of turbans for ID documents.

The United Sikhs organisation filed a complaint on behalf of French national Shingara Mann Singh, 52, who was refused a replacement driver's licence.

By law applicants have to remove all headgear for security reasons.

A French law adopted in 2004 also bans the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in state schools.

Several Sikh boys have been expelled from schools in France for defying the ban, which also applies to Muslim headscarves.

Stolen

Mr Singh was twice refused a replacement driver's licence - in 2005 and 2006 - because he insisted on wearing his turban for the photograph.

He has been a French national for more than 20 years.

"I will give up my head but not my turban, which covers my unshorn hair," he said, quoted by United Sikhs.

His licence was stolen two years ago, he said, and "before the robbery, at no time was I asked to substitute the photograph with one showing me without a turban".

The Sikh religion requires males to wear their hair unshorn and covered at all times by a turban - a key aspect of their identity. [Link]

French Sikhs have appealed to the European Court of Human Rights over a ruling that they must remove their turbans for driver’s licence photographs.

Last year, France’s highest administrative court upheld an earlier ruling against Shingara Mann Singh, a French citizen forced to remove his turban in 2004.

It said the order was justified on the grounds of public security and was not a restriction on freedom of faith.

But representatives of the French branch of United Sikhs today launched a legal challenge to the ruling, appealing to the Strasbourg-based European court to intervene in the case.

Speaking at a press conference in the European parliament on Monday, British Socialist MEP Nena Gill also appealed to the EU to help raise awareness of the “plight” of French Sikhs.

“Sikhs wear their turbans throughout their day, when driving and when at work. Asking them to remove their turbans for a photo ID is absurd and shows an absolute lack of respect and sensitivity,” said Gill, president of parliament’s India delegation.

She said that Sikhs in Belgium had also reportedly been told they could not be considered for jobs in public administration if they wore turbans.

“I would ask France and other EU member states, such as Belgium, to reflect upon the British model. In the UK those wearing articles of faith including turbans are treaty equally.

“Many turban wearing Sikhs are police officers, army officers and judges as well. Therefore, I would ask French authorities to reconsider their position and treat Sikhs as equal members of society," said Gill.

Her comments were echoed by Claude Moraes, another UK Socialist MEP and president of parliament’s all-party group on anti-racism and diversity.

“As a member of the committee for citizen’s rights, I support all attempts to build a European society based on the respect for their fundamental rights laid down in the EU’s treaties which include the right of religion and conscience and expression of culture.”

United Sikhs argue that the French ruling makes its small community of several thousand in France the victims of “indirect discrimination”.

Sikh males are required by religion to allow their hair to grow and most wear a turban, a symbol of Sikh identity, to keep their hair under control. [Link]

A top anti-discrimination body has ruled that French schools were violating the rights of headscarf-wearing Muslim mothers by preventing them from taking part in their children's outings.

A group of Muslim women petitioned the French anti-discrimination authority HALDE after they were barred from accompanying school trips or extra-curricular activities.

The school invoked a 2004 French law which bans students from wearing religious insignia, including Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps, Sikh turbans or large Christian crosses, in state schools.

In a ruling dated May 14 the HALDE stressed the ban only concerns students, and that "the refusal on principle for mothers wearing the headscarf" to join in school activities was a form of "discrimination on religious grounds."

The HALDE recommended that all schools revise their guidelines on parent participation "in order to respect the principle of non-discrimination on religious grounds."

France, which has Europe's biggest Muslim population, is one of the few countries to have passed legislation banning visible religious symbols in public schools.

The law sparked a wave of anger and incomprehension among Muslims worldwide, but in France the controversy that surrounded its adoption three years ago has all but died down. [Link]