The municipal orders against the burkini risk having a boomerang effect on the international attractiveness of the Azure Coast.
The first warning shot was fired by an editorial in the New York Times: “after the bans on the burka, the veil in schools, as well as regulations on the length of students’ skirts, France’s long-standing issue with Muslim women’s attire has taken on the appearance of a farce.”
On Tuesday, August 30, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights followed suit, welcoming the decision made by the French judiciary to halt the burkini ban, stating that the measures taken against this attire were fueling the “stigmatization” of Muslims.
“These decrees do not improve the security situation; they tend instead to fuel religious intolerance and the stigmatization of Muslims in France, especially women,” noted the High Commissioner’s office in a statement.
According to the UN agency, under international human rights standards, restrictions on any person’s freedom to manifest their religion or beliefs, including through their choice of clothing, “are only permissible in very limited circumstances, including for the protection of public safety, public order, public health, or morals.”
It must be said that some municipalities, justifying the order for reasons of “security and hygiene,” had been particularly clumsy.
Furthermore, under international human rights law, measures adopted in the name of public order must be appropriate, necessary, and proportionate, the statement recalls.
Four police officers engaged to reprimand a covered woman (not even wearing a burkini) on the beach in Nice (a photo that circulated worldwide via social media) shows that too much zeal is counterproductive.
With this negative publicity, the image relaunch plan for the Côte d’Azur promoted and launched by the Regional Tourism Committee is at risk of being undermined.
This security obsession clearly risks having a double negative effect: it serves no purpose and creates a bad image for the area.
Honestly, one had to think of that to achieve such a result!
The economic players who rushed to request public aid after the July 14th attack have nothing to say?
