Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera releases statement confirming ban
French athletes have been barred from wearing the hijab at the Paris Olympic Games.
France imposed the ban on its national team players as it prepares to host the Games from July 26 to Aug. 11 and the Paralympics from Aug. 28 to Sept. 8. French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera initially announced the ban on Sept. 24, 2023, and later confirmed that no woman in the country’s delegation would wear a headscarf during the Paris Olympics.
Following the announcement, Marta Hurtado, spokeswoman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), stated that the ban was wrong, asserting that “no one should impose on a woman what she needs to wear or not wear.”
On May 24, Amnesty International and several other organizations sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) calling for a public appeal to lift all restrictions on French athletes wearing the headscarf at the Paris Olympics and other sporting events. The IOC responded that France’s headscarf ban was outside its remit, noting that “freedom of religion is interpreted in many different ways by different states.”
In a press release dated July 16, Amnesty International condemned the headscarf ban as a “discriminatory double standard” and a violation of international human rights law, criticizing both the French authorities and the IOC’s inadequate response.
