France has banned its athletes from wearing hijabs at next year’s Paris Olympic Games.
France’s Sports Minister, Amelie Oudea-Castera, announced the ban during a recent interview with the French political programme Dimanche en Politique, as per Inside the Games.
The Minister explained the decision of the French government by saying that having deliberated with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne officials were seeking ‘absolute neutrality’ at the Games in Paris.
Oudéa-Castéra said: “We have, thanks to a recent decision of the Council of State, expressed very clearly with the Prime Minister our attachment to a regime of strict secularism.
“This means the prohibition of any form of proselytism, the absolute neutrality of public service.
“The representatives of our delegations in our French teams will not wear the veil.
“The International Olympic Committee, which governs these rules of participation, is following a logic which consists of understanding the wearing of the veil not as a religious factor but as a cultural factor.
“It is based on the provisions of International Federations which are not all the same in this area. There will be heterogeneity between sports.”
It should be noted that France had already banned the wearing of hijab in schools.
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