Facing French backlash, Council of Europe removes anti-discrimination campaign from Twitter

By Busra Nur Cakmak

ANKARA (AA) – Facing French condemnation, images from a social media campaign promoting women's diversity and their right to wear headscarves or hijabs have been removed by the Council of Europe.

The images of women in headscarves were shared on the Twitter account of the council’s Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Division with the slogans "Freedom is in the headscarf," "Bring joy & accept hijabs," and "Beauty is in diversity as freedom is in the hijab.” But the French backlash led to the images’ removal, just days after the project’s launch.

The campaign had come under immediate attack from France, with Sarah El Hairy, minister of state for youth and engagement attached to the minister of national education, youth and sport, claiming it is against French values.

"Wearing a headscarf is encouraged in the campaign's video. We condemn this,” she said.

In a statement, the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organizations (FEMYSO), a group which helped launch the campaign, said that “the attack on the Council of Europe’s hijab campaign is an attack on human rights.”

The group said it was “extremely sad to see efforts by Muslim youth once again attacked and undermined by individuals and governments alike. We are deeply concerned and saddened that our collaboration on building human-rights based narratives to tackle anti-Muslim hate speech was attacked.”

It added: “This is yet another example of how young progressive voices are sidelined and Muslim women’s rights are non-existent to those who abuse notions such as liberty, secularism, equality and freedom.”

The statement said that the attacks “on this vital campaign take place in a wider environment of a shrinking of civic space, where government actors routinely censor and limit the freedom of speech when not fitting their political agenda,” adding that such attacks based on false narratives effectively ostracize the work of civil society groups.

In the statement, Hande Taner, the group’s head, said that institutions should stand firm in their defense of human rights, condemning violations of freedom of speech and freedom of religion in the face of such grave racist and anti-Muslim attacks.

“We firmly believe that everyone has the right and freedom to wear (and not to wear) what they want,” she added.

“Those two are not extremes and do not exclude each other, rather they go together. This is a basic fundamental right.”