Discrimination in the Name of Neutrality: Headscarf Bans for Teachers and Civil Servants in Germany

Haleh Chahrokh · Human Rights Watch (Organization)

Jän. 2009 · Human Rights Watch

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In recent years there has been a debate in Germany, as in many other European countries, about how to deal with an increasingly diverse society. One of the most prominent controversies has been the wearing of the headscarf by some Muslim women. Since 2004, half of Germany's 16 states have introduced laws prohibiting public school teachers (and other civil servants in several states) from wearing the headscarf at work. The eight other German states have no such restrictions. Some of the laws banning religious symbols and dress exempt Christian symbols. The bans in Germany are neither necessary nor justified. Where there are concrete concerns that a teacher's conduct breaches the duty to ensure that schools remain neutral on questions of religion and ideology, they should be addressed through ordinary disciplinary procedures, on a case-by-case basis. Teachers should be assessed on the basis of their actions, not views imputed to them by virtue of religious dress.