The Flemish Community Education (GO!) network’s ban on displaying religious symbols does not violate the right to religious freedom, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled. Three pupils at a school in Maasmechelen took a case to the court because they were not allowed to wear a headscarf at school.
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ECHR ruling: Headscarf ban in schools does not violate right to freedom of religion
Sally Tipper
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In 2017, three young Muslim women went to court in Tongeren because they were not allowed to wear headscarves at their school. The school is part of the GO! network, which has a general ban on wearing religious symbols. The pupils and their parents argued that the ban violated their right to freedom of religion. After the court in Tongeren ruled in the pupils' favour, the Court of Appeal in Antwerp overturned the decision.
The pupils then took the case to the ECHR, which has now ruled that the ban does not in principle violate the right to freedom of religion, set out in Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
According to the court, GO!, which has to offer “neutral” education, can choose to ban the wearing of religious symbols. The ban applies not only to headscarves but all religious signs and symbols. A ban that only applied only to headscarves would potentially be a breach of the right to religious freedom.
Complaints inadmissible
The students also claimed that the ban violated their right to private life, freedom of expression and the right to education, as well as breaching the ban on discrimination.
However, the court did not rule on a possible violation of those rights because complainants must first exhaust all legal remedies in Belgium before going to the ECHR. Only the complaint about religious freedom was admissible.