Under pressure, Council of Europe withdraws hijab campaign

“The Hijab makes you free.” This was the message of a campaign launched last Thursday by the Council of Europe. Propelled by the Council’s Program for Inclusion and the Fight against Discrimination and co-funded by the European Union, this campaign featured portraits of several young women, veiled in only one half of the image. A message in English read in particular: “beauty is in diversity as freedom is in hijab“,” Beauty is in diversity as freedom is in the hijab. “Going relatively unnoticed at first, it ended up triggering a heated controversy in France, from the far right to the government, leading the organization on Tuesday , a human rights watchdog on the continent, to withdraw it.

An “absolutely inappropriate” campaign

“The campaign evoking the hijab as a tool of freedom is absolutely inappropriate,” denounced Michel Barnier, LR presidential candidate at 8 pm France 2 Tuesday evening. “I would have liked the people who had this bad campaign to go and question, if they could, the women of Kabul who they fight precisely not to wear this veil. The veil is not an instrument of freedom. women, it’s the opposite, ”he continued. The probable presidential candidate Eric Zemmour blasted him “an advertising jihad, a campaign hostile to the truth”, claiming that “Islam is the enemy of freedom”.

“This European communication in favor of the Islamist veil is scandalous and indecent while millions of women fight courageously against this enslavement”, launched for her part Marine Le Pen, candidate of the National Rally. “This is not a propaganda campaign by the Muslim Brotherhood, but by the Council of Europe,” quipped the sovereignist deputy Nicolas Dupont-Aignan. On the right, the president of the Île-de-France Region Valérie Pécresse also expressed her “amazement”, believing that the veil was “not a symbol of freedom, but of submission”.

A project which does not represent “the position of the Council of Europe”

“These tweets have been removed and we are going to think about a better presentation of this project,” the Council of Europe, the pan-European organization based in Strasbourg, confirmed in a statement. They “were part of a joint project” of the Council and the European Union “against discrimination, the objective of which was to raise awareness of the need to respect diversity and inclusion and to combat all types of hate speech. “, further justified the Council.

The tweets “reflected the statements made individually by participants in one of the workshops of the project and do not represent the position of the Council of Europe or its Secretary General” Marija Pejcinovic Buric, further assured the organization.