Belgian school religious symbol ban does not breach rights: top court

A Belgian regional ban on religious symbols in schools does not breach children's rights, a top European court ruled on Thursday, in a case brought by former pupils who were forbidden from wearing the Islamic headscarf.

The three young Muslim women, who attended schools run by the Flemish Community, appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on grounds of freedom of religion.

The Flemish Community, one of Belgium's federal regions, since 2009 has banned the wearing of outward signs of religious affiliation in its educational system.

The plaintiffs' parents had appealed without success for Belgium to declare the ban illegal, before the young women took the case to the ECHR in November 2020.

The women, now in their 20s, argued that the measure infringed several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The court ruled that "prohibiting, in general, the wearing by pupils of visible symbols of belief, did not in itself run counter to Article 9 of the Convention," which guarantees religious freedom, it wrote in a summary of the judgement.

It said the ban aimed at "the protection of the rights and freedoms of others and of public order".

It also noted that the pupils had been informed of the rules at their schools prior to joining, adding that the measure targeted all religious symbols and not just the Islamic veil.

It rejected the rest of their complaints under other articles of the convention on the grounds that they had failed to exhaust their options in Belgian courts before taking their case to the ECHR.

The ECHR, based in Strasbourg, has previously ruled on the issue of religious symbols in schools.

In June 2009, it dismissed a claim brought against France by six students excluded from their places of learning for wearing religious symbols – the Islamic headscarf and the "keski" Sikh turban.  (AFP)