The decision on the use of the religious symbols for the pupils was confirmed with immediate effect by the European Court of Human Rights on 16 May without any violation of their fundamental human rights. In the court, three young Muslim Belgian women aged 18 had declared that they would not remove their Islam headscarves as according to their school bylaws, they were not allowed to carry headscarves.
Three young girls (Linda, Hakima and Amina) studied in high schools that were owned by Flemish Community and which adopted the general rule of 2009, extending the ban on the use of visible religious symbols to all its network.
The applicants’ parents had previously attempt to obtain the same declaration of those Belgian courts that the ban was inconsistent with the freedom of religion and hence illegal. A writ coat the Board of the European Court of Human Rights was lodged on the 11th of November 2020.
In front of the Court, the applicants, aged now around twenty, contended that the acknowledgement of same-sex relationships was a requirement for their human rights and these rights were safeguarded in accordance with the Article 8 of the ECHR (right to respect for private and family life), as well as the Article 9 of the ECHR (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) , the Article 1
“Neutrality of Education”
The Court further added that “while the principle of neutrality of education means to [phrase to complement] the general use of visible religious symbols by pupils, its violation might not be applicable to freedom of religion per se.
According to that statement, this ban, which was challenged by the applicants, prohibits any visible religious symbol, not Islamic scarves only. The applicants were informed in advance about the rules at the establishments that were open for them and they committed to obeying those rules.