European "freedom": EU court rules hijab bans are "OK"
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In the name of "neutrality", Belgium voices no problem in banning the hijab.
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Students hold a protest against the hijab ban in the educational system in Belgium: The poster says: "They claim to want to free me by taking away my freedom."
What is neutrality - and who gets to decide? Certainly not Muslim women, who in Belgium, do not get to decide what they can wear and cannot wear in Europe - the "beacon of democracy," or in other words, according to Borrell, a "garden" that needs protection from the "jungle".
With the recent hypocritical pushing for "freedoms" in Iran for regime change color revolts, a Belgian court has ruled that banning the hijab is "OK" as long as it does not "discriminate against employees" - a paradox in of itself.
See more: Islamophobia in Europe is at a 'tipping point'
A Muslim woman, applying to do a 6-week work traineeship at a Belgian company, was told that she cannot wear a headscarf on the traineeship.
The firm has a "neutrality" rule which prohibits any veil or form of head-covering on its premises. The woman complained to the Belgian court, which took its advice from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which said the ban is allowed as long as there is not any direct discrimination.
"The internal rule of an undertaking prohibiting the visible wearing of religious, philosophical or spiritual signs does not constitute direct discrimination if it is applied to all workers in a general and undifferentiated way," judges said.
Last year, the CJEU said EU companies could ban employees from wearing the veil if they needed to depict a "neutral" image to their customers.
The ban on the hijab, even in Germany, has impeded many Muslim women from work, particularly teachers in state schools and trainee judges.
France banned the hijab in public schools in 2004, noting that France has the largest Muslim population in Europe.
Read next: Islamophobic attack rips hijab off teenager
In January, the French Senate voted in favor of banning hijabs in sports competitions in the latest round of French Islamophobia and religious discrimination, arguing that "neutrality is a requirement" on the field.
The amendment aims at banning "the wearing of the veil in sports competitions," the text clearly stated, also arguing that the hijab could "put at risk" the safety of athletes wearing it.
The amendment was proposed by the right-wing Les Republicains party, and it was adopted in the senate with 160 votes in favor and 143 against.
