It all started in 2017 when ten students from the Haute Ecole decided to file a complaint once morest the rules which, they claimed, discriminated once morest them by prohibiting them from wearing the Islamic veil. The Brussels Court of First Instance then seized the Constitutional Court which, on June 4, 2020, decided that “the ban (of religious symbols) is not contrary to the obligation to respect neutrality within official education and does not violate the freedom of religion guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights“.
Another judgment by the Court of First Instance takes, on November 24, 2021, a diametrically opposed decision. The judge “recalls that this ban should be provided for by decree, because of its importance, and not simply by the internal rules of the school“. The judgment therefore declares “that this ban constitutes indirect discrimination and orders the City of Brussels to cease it“.
The City of Brussels, which is the organizing power, is not appealing this decision. The Ecolo party, which is part of the majority, refuses it. It’s a relief for the veiled students. The teachers feel let down by their organizing power.
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