The Supreme Court of Europe found the ban on hijab for female employees to be legal

According to the international group Tasnim news agency, citing the newspaper “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, some A Belgian municipality has banned a female employee from wearing a headscarf while on duty. The Muslim woman complained about this action of the Belgian municipality, and now the European Supreme Court, EuGH, has decided that such a ban is allowed. This issue has also started debates in Germany.

According to the European Supreme Court, a government agency can ban the hijab to create neutrality. The decision was issued on Tuesday by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, EuGH. A woman from Belgium filed a complaint against such a law to the Labor Court of Liège, which in turn was referred to the European Supreme Court and such a ruling was issued. he does. After five years, she expressed her desire to wear a headscarf at work. But the municipality forbade him from doing this and changed his work rules. Since then, all employees have been prohibited from wearing visible signs of ideological or religious affiliation, even those that have nothing to do with the public. The woman feels she has been discriminated against and her religious freedom violated by the regulation.

On Tuesday, the European Supreme Court clarified that a “policy of strict neutrality” in public administration is justified. – But the same applies to the opposite decision. Accordingly, a public authority can also decide to allow religious symbols “generally and undifferentiatedly”, and member states have discretion here. A party should be pursued in a consistent and systematic manner, and all actions should be limited to what is absolutely necessary. The ruling also states: It is up to the national courts to check whether these requirements have been met or not.

In Germany, and especially in Berlin, there is currently a debate about how to properly deal with religious symbols. In 2005, the House of Representatives passed the Neutrality Act, which prohibits teachers, judges and police officers from wearing visible religious or ideological symbols.

A few years ago, a Muslim computer scientist who He did not want to take off his headscarf in class, he was not accepted in school. The woman then went to the Federal Labor Court, where she won her rights.

Under the General Equal Treatment Act, the judges awarded her 5,000 euros in compensation and cited the case law of the Federal Constitutional Court, which Berlin also He should pay attention to it.

Discussions about this continue in Germany, of course.

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