Human Rights and the Islamic Headscarf

Abstract: In 2004 a law banning all religious affiliation in public schools in France came into force. This started a heavy debate in the whole of Europe on whether this law is a violation of human rights law on the basis on freedom of religion and the freedom to manifest his/hers religion or belief in worship. This had the greatest impact on Muslim girls wearing the Islamic headscarf. This is a study of the legal framework of the law in the light of human rights perspective. It is also a semi comparison between the French and the United Kingdom way of approaching the issue with the Islamic headscarf in public schools.Keywords: religion,