The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rejected the objection regarding a decision on the ban on the wearing of a hijab, enforced in secondary schools of the Flemish region of Belgium. In the ECHR, they considered that this decision does not violate “freedom of thought, conscience and religion.”
The ECHR made a final decision regarding the lawsuit of three citizens of Belgium, Muslims born from 2001 to 2004 and living in the Maasmehelen commune, the court said.
The court by a majority vote ruled that the appeal is “unacceptable.”
The court noted that the ban on wearing a hijab does not violate the “freedom of thought, conscience and religion”, since “is proportionate to the margins, such as protecting the rights and freedoms of other persons and public order, and, therefore,“ is necessary in a democratic society “.
What happened?
In 2009, the Flemish Public Education Council (GO) in Belgium announced the decision to prohibit the wearing of hijab in the Flemish part of the country and in all subordination of public schools.
The lawsuit filed by parents of 11 students regarding the ban on wearing a hijab in 2017 was decided in favor of students, and the Tongeren trial court in Belgium ruled that the ban on wearing hijaba contradicts the freedom of religion in accordance with the school rules of the Maasmehelen commune. In turn, the Belgian Court of Appeal canceled the decision of the Tongeren first instance court.
Three Belgian students turned to the ECHR in 2020 on the grounds that the decision to ban hijab violates the right to “respect private life”, “freedom of thought, conscience and religion”, “freedom of expression”, “the right to Education “and” Prohibition of discrimination “.