PARIS-“The UN Human Rights Committee has made our nine year wait for justice worthwhile, since the French law was passed against religious signs in public schools in 2004. The UNHRC has once again proved to be the beacon of light for the freedom of thought, conscience and religion by upholding that the Article 18 right under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to manifest ones religion, cannot be overridden merely by pleading secularity without producing any evidence that the Sikh Turban would affect the right of other students or would affect order in the school,” said Mejindarpal Kaur, UNITED SIKHS Legal Director, who is in the fore-front of a legal campaign for French Sikhs’ right to wear their turban.
Paris, France, 14 Dec 2012 – The UN Human Rights Committee has ruled that France’s ban on the wearing of “conspicuous” religious symbols in schools – introduced in a law adopted in March 2004 – violated a Sikh student’s right to manifest his religion, protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). In a decision that was sent out this week to the UNITED SIKHS legal team, in relation to a complaint made by Bikramjit Singh in 2008, the Committee accepted that the wearing of a turban is regarded as a religious duty for a Sikh and is also tied in with his identity; and that France had not justified the prohibition on the wearing of the turban.
Less than a year ago, the UNHRC had also concluded that France had violated the religious freedom of 76 year old Ranjit Singh when he was asked to remove his turban for his ID photograph. A UN decision is still awaited for Shingara Singh, whose passport has not been renewed by France because he refused to remove his turban for his ID photograph.
“We now look to France to fulfil its treaty obligations under International law. It also has a moral duty to ensure that the freedom of religion and belief is upheld for everyone who lives within its territory,” she added. France must also provide Bikramjit Singh with a remedy, including appropriate compensation. France has 180 days to explain to the Committee how it proposes to give effect to the decision.
Bikramjit Singh, whose religious rights the UN decided had been violated, said, “I am very pleased with the UN’s decision and would like to reassure the French government that we are in favour of secularity, in its true sense. The Sikh turban stands for liberty, equality and fraternity because the right to wear a Turban is open to all – men and women, rich and poor.
“In fact, the Turban is a symbol of laicite- it does not discriminate. The Turban is not a sign of oppression. It’s a practice of freedom,” added Bikramjit Singh, who after being expelled from school, completed his education privately and is now a project engineer with an engineering firm in Paris.
President of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, Paramjit Singh said in a telephone interview: “Bikramjit Singh is an Indian national and it should have been the responsibility of the Indian government to protect his religious freedom abroad so that he and other Sikhs were not banned from wearing the turban in French public schools. Instead it took an NGO, UNITED SIKHS, to take up and win this case at the UN. We are very proud of UNITED SIKHS and congratulate the global Sikh community for the victory at the UN. I will personally ensure that this issue is raised at the Indian Parliament to ensure that France complies with the UN’s decision and reverses the ban on the turban in schools”.
“Our stand for the turban will not only benefit France but the whole world. It is not a coincidence that this battle of the turban is being fought in France – a country that lives by laicite. The Turban will show the world that the true meaning of laicite can only be achieved if its people are allowed to be free to practice their faith,” said Gurdial Singh of the Turban Action Committee of France, who has been defending campaign relentlessly.
