Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 14-03-2017
The Islamic Human Rights Commission says the European Union’s top law court ruling that employers are entitled to ban staff from wearing visible religious symbols, a decision Muslims say is a direct attack on women wearing hijabs at work is outrageous.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) today said the decision does not constitute “direct discrimination” if a firm has an internal rule banning the wearing of “any political, philosophical or religious sign”.
The court gave a judgment in the cases of two women, in Belgium and France who were dismissed for refusing to remove hijabs, or the headscarf worn by many Muslim women who feel it is part of their religion.
The judgement on that and the French case came on the eve of a Dutch election in which Muslim immigration is a key issue and weeks before France votes for a president in a similarly charged campaign. French conservative candidate Francois Fillon hailed the ruling as “an immense relief” that would contribute to “social peace”.
But a campaign group backing the women said the ruling could shut many Muslim women out of the workforce.
The Islamic Human rights commission’s Azru Meerali told Radio Islam the decision by the ECJ is outrageous.
“You cannot discriminate against people because of their religion. So that judgment itself is coming out of an increasingly Islamophobic climate cross Europe including in parts of Europe like the United Kingdom which traditionally you would’ve feel that they had this kind similar views of such openly discriminatory opinion.”
At the same time European rabbis says the Court had added to rising incidences of hate crime to send a message that “faith communities are no longer welcome”.
Critics called the ban a thinly veiled measure targeting Muslims.
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