Just over a week before the 2024 Olympic Summer Games is due to commence in Paris, the host country has come under fire for announcing a blanket ban on hijabs for any French competing athletes. France is currently the only country on the continent that excludes hijab-wearing athletes in most domestic sports competitions.

According to Al Jazeera, this decision has not come as a massive surprise to some, with then-French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra announcing in September 2023 that France’s athletes would not be allowed to wear hijabs during the Olympics to respect principles of secularism and to ensure “absolute neutrality in public services.”

The Olympics is not the first time France has established oppressive prohibitions on hijabs in sports. Bans extend across different sports such as basketball, football, and volleyball—at both professional and amateur levels. As noted by Amnesty International, these bans serve to restrict Muslim women from sports as a whole.

Not only has there been an overwhelming wave of social media criticism to this ban, there have also been complaints from numerous human rights organisations who have cited this decision as a direct breach of international human rights laws.

@screenshothq

France is banning its female athletes from wearing hijabs during the Olympics. Rights groups are concerned that this ban violates the athletes' human rights, but the International Olympic Committee has chosen not to intervene in the issue. What do you think about France banning the hijab at the Olympics? #france #olympics #paris2024 #hijab #humanrights #streetinterview #voxpop

♬ The Champion - Lux-Inspira

The decision by France to ban the participation of sportswomen who wear headscarves in the Paris 2024 Olympics is the latest in a series of anti-Islam measures taken by the country. The Olympic Committee and the Human Rights Office of the UN have both criticized this decision.…

— Saadet Oruç (@saadetoruc1972) October 4, 2023

The ban on French women athletes who wear headscarves from competing at #Olympics2024 breaches international human rights laws and exposes the discriminatory hypocrisy of French authorities and the craven weakness of the International Olympic Committee. https://t.co/wnrQcxUKZN

— Amnesty Ireland (@AmnestyIreland) July 17, 2024

In Amnesty International’s full report on the ban’s discriminatory nature, the organisation has called upon the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to take a stand against this decision—penning a letter to express the collective outrage. However, in response to this demand, the IOC has stated that France’s prohibition on sports hijabs was outside the remit of the Olympic movement, claiming that “freedom of religion is interpreted in many different ways by different states.”

Hélène Bâ, a basketball player, told Amnesty International that the Olympics hijab ban “is a clear violation of the Olympic charter, values and provisions, and an infringement on our fundamental rights and freedoms… I think it’s going to be a shameful moment for France.”

Despite there being an increasingly large number of Muslims in France—indeed one of the biggest Muslim populations in Europe—there are still high levels of islamophobia and discrimination.

Under the pretext of ‘protecting’ secularism in the country, France has introduced a number of provisions over the past few years that have not only directly affected Muslim communities but have perpetuated societal discrimination.

Religious clothing is now monitored to an extreme in schools, and with the rise of right-wing populism and nationalism, many Muslim individuals feel uncomfortable embracing their faith in public. Indeed, in 2023, amid the increasing tensions coinciding with the war in Gaza, the NGO Human Rights Watch called on countries such as France and Germany to take stronger action to combat rising anti-Muslim hate in Europe.

It is highly likely that the decision to ban hijabs from the Olympic Games will not only fuel discrimination in the sporting realm but also in society as a whole.