Prohibition
of wearing Islamic religious symbol in French
The prohibition of wearing Islamic religious symbol in french is
becoming contentious. Enforcement of human rights is not a new thing for a various nations in this world. Especially
religious freedom and practice that we ordered. As long as the existence of a
democratic system, these values have begun to be interpreted differently in
state international relations. One of them is a country in the European
continent, namely France, country which has a various kinds of religion for the
population. In 2014, the president of the French republic Jecques Chirac announced a new regulation about the prohibition of wearing religious symbols in public spaces. He also
gave discriminatory statements about the using of burqa and hijab for
Muslims. (Rafsitahandjani, 2017) . The reason is
that the French government wants to build a secular society in their country to
maintain security, gender, tolerance and avoid radicalism that is growing in
there. This decision actually gets a lot of resistance and opposition,
especially from the Muslim community, because Sauri Susanto said that “French
is a country where the largest Muslim population in western Europe lived (Susanto,
2014) .
Because of these restriction many people be aggrieved. There are some negative
effect from these prohibition.
This prohibition was very costly for Muslims in France. “The French Law
no. 2004-228 of 15 March 2004, concerning, through the application of the
principle of laı¨cite´, the wearing of symbols or clothing demonstrating
religious affiliation in state primary and secondary schools.” (Spini, 2004) . Based on the law
above, many people consider that it is closely as a discriminatory not as a justice
in the state. Therefore, It can not accepted by them because it caused
emergence of social problems inequality
and tensions relations between Muslims and non-Muslim citizens in the society.
France also disseminate a debate and indignation all over the world. Hundreds
of Muslims women were arrested for breaking the set of rules. Actually, for a
Muslims, hijab and burqa are not just a fashion style that covers their body but
it is an obligation that must to do through their religion. The conflict is
strongly articulated in terms of the principles of religion freedom. Therefore, from
these problem we can noted that relationship between religion and politics it
rests on a false separation of public and private. “If a secular state is to
respect all faiths and ensure free practice of spiritual and cultural
activities for all communities, this means, the panel argued, that the state
must accept publicly visible manifestations of religion, and its ritual expression
in public space.” (Mazza, 2009)
. Religion cannot be relegated to the private sphere because religious
expression is inherently social as well as personal or private. On a global level,
religions have become a strong political symbol, and directly influence
political action and decisions in every state.
This prohibition make an intolerance and harassment against the
exiting interaction efforts of french Muslim before. Before the French government
ratified the regulation, Muslims there had carried out the process of
integration and cooperation with culture and another religion. The integration
effort has run quite well and has a good effect. But after the ban was imposed,
the situation became increasingly chaotic, which led to the existence of
intolerance and disturbing the comfort of many people. This indirectly led to
rebellion and religious divisions between the Muslim and non-Muslim. There are
several examples of cases that occur. "In 1989 the issue of discrimination
arose against students wearing headscarves in schools, 3 girls in the Creil,
the suburbs in Paris were suspended because of wearing headscarves in public
secondary schools (Wing, 2006) . Based on data
obtained from the French police there were 131 cases of racism reported in 2004
and 65 cases in 2005 and based on the annual Commission Nationale Consultative
des Droits de l'Homme (CNCDH) report against Racism, Anti-Semitism and
Xenophobia there were 352 cases violence and threats to immigrants from North
Africa or to Muslims, 266 are threatening actions and the remaining 64 are acts
of violence.” (EMC, 2006:72). If we look at the case above, we can conclude
that the value of democracy and justice will not be enforced to the fullest in
a French country. In fact, as we have seen, human rights are prioritized in
various parts of the world. So from that this regulation can be deemed deviant
and harms many people and does not rule out the possibility of a review and
even the revocation of the decision.
This prohibition has caused many disputes. Many people do not agree
with that decision. There are several considerations that convinced by
people who do not agree with these regulations. First, these regulation shows
intolerance and harassment against exiting integration efforts of French Muslims. (Wiles, 2005) Second, it was also
provoked rebellion and religious division between Muslim and Non-Muslim. For example there are many
cases that make a Muslims as a victims. Besides that, the regulation was led Islam
and other religions to battle and struggle each other. Than, as a country that
upholds the values of democracy and human rights it is considered very
detrimental to the state. Because of the ban, the country 's democracy and
justice will not grow up to the full extent. The process of justice and welfare
among humans is very difficult to obtain. Even the fabric of society becomes
unbalanced. Finally, there is an agreement in society that leads to a sense of
hatred for a particular religion, it means that it can increased hostility
towards both the Islamic symbols and the Islamic religion itself.
The regulations which regarding to the prohibition of using Islamic
symbols in France are very contrary through the principle of welfare of human life, because
it is showing intolerance and harassment against the exiting integration
efforts of French Muslim, provoked rebellion and religious divisions (Muslim and non-Muslim), Led to battle and struggle between Islam and other religions.
Furthermore, because of the ban, the French country 's democracy and justice
will not grow up to the maximum accession. Moreover, it is resulting many
hostility towards the both of the Islamic symbols and the Islamic religion
itself.
References
Spini, D.L.
(2004). Unveiling The Headscarf Debate. Feminist Legal Studies; Kluwer
Academic
Publishers. Printed In The Netherlands., 333.
Mazza, O. (2009). The Right To Wear Headscarves And Other Religious
Symbol In French, Turkish, And American School: How The Goverenment Draws A
Veil On Free Expression Of Faith. Journal Of Catholic Legal Studies, 48 :
No. 2, 304.
Rafsitahandjani, N. I. (2017, September-Desember). Dinamika Pelarangan
Niqab Dan Burqa Di Eropa Barat: Studi Kasus Prancis Dan Belgia. Interdependence
Journal, 05. No:3, 114.
Spini, D. L. (2004). Unveiling The Headscraf Debate. Feminist Legal
Studies 12, 333.
Susanto, S. (2014). Dukungan European Court Of Human Right Bagi
Pelanggaran Jilbab Di Sekolah, Serta Niqob Dan Burqo Di Perancis. Journal
Thesis Of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta, 01.
Wing, Adrien Katherine dan Smith, Monica Nigh. 2006. “Critical Race
Feminism Lifts the
Veil? Muslim
Women, France, and the Headscarf Ban”, U.C Davis Law Review,
3 Januari
2006, hal. 754.
European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, “Muslims in
the European Union:
Discrimination
and Islamophobia” 2006. Hal. 72
