October 8th, 2013

SIKHS Win Third Turban Case at the UN against France

“The UN Human Rights Committee has said that by requiring Shingara Singh to remove his turban for his passport photograph, France has violated his right to religious freedom that is guaranteed under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and that France must now re-examine his passport application and review of the relevant laws to ensure that no further violations of the same occur in the future,” said Mejindarpal Kaur, UNITED SIKHS International Legal Director, who is in the fore-front of a legal campaign for French Sikhs' right to wear their turban.

Paris, France, 8th Oct. 2013 – The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) concluded that France has violated the religious freedom of 57 year old Shingara Mann Singh when he was asked to remove his turban for his passport photograph. Shingara Singh, a French national since 1989, was unable to renew his passport in 2005 because the French authorities insisted that he remove his turban for his ID photograph, which he refused to do. The UNITED SIKHS legal team took up his case in French courts and then retained O’Melveny & Myers LLP to file a communication on behalf of Shingara Singh to the UNHRC in December 2008.

The UNHRC, in views dated September 26, 2013 and made public last week, said that France has failed to demonstrate that the restriction imposed on Shingara Singh is actually necessary. The Committee found that the restrictions result in a potential obstruction to his fundamental right to freedom of religion when he is required to appear in ID photos without the religious headwear he always wears, as he might thereafter be forced to take off his turban in public when going through ID checkpoints. The Committee also observed that France had not explained why the act of wearing a turban covering only the upper portion of an individual’s head and forehead (but leaving the face clearly visible) makes it more difficult to identify the wearer, or why a bare headed ID photograph in Shingara Singh’s case would make it easier to ascertain his identity or to prevent fraud or forgery given that he wears his turban at all times when in public.

Shingara Singh, a French national, who refused to remove his turban for his passport photograph

“The Committee therefore must conclude that the regulations requiring him to appear in his passport photographs ‘with the head uncovered’ is a disproportionate restriction that poses a threat to the author’s [Shingara Singh’s] freedom of religion and thereby constitutes, in the present instance, a violation of Article 18 of the Covenant,” according to an unofficial English translation of the Committee’s Views. The Covenant was entered into force for France on 4 February 1981.

The UNHRC’s views were adopted at the 108th Session of the Committee’s sitting, and may be read in French here.

“This is the third Turban case that the UNITED SIKHS legal team has won at the UN since these cases were filed against France in 2008, which shows that the international community recognises that the wearing of turban by a Sikh is not only his/her religious duty but is a part of his/her identity. We have done our work to show that international law recognises the right to wear a turban in France. We now need to embark on a campaign to make France realise that it has to fulfil its obligations under international law to ensure that freedom of religion and belief is upheld for everyone in its country,” said Mejindarpal Kaur, UNITED SIKHS International Legal Director, who has been working on these cases since France banned the turban in state schools in 2004.

“I have been a French citizen for more than 20 years. I continue to be proud to be French but I fail to see how my country can be proud of its slogan of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity if it cannot uphold its citizens’ fundamental right to religious freedom. I hope that the UNHRC’s decision will wake France up to its international obligations,” said Shingara Singh, who is struggling to conduct his life in France without an identity document. His driver’s licence card too had been refused because of his refusal to bare his head for the ID photograph.

You may read previous press releases on UNITED SIKHS’ advocacy for the right to wear a turban in France here and here.

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Issued By:
Mejindarpal Kaur
International Legal Director
International Civil and Human Rights Advocacy ( ICHRA)
law@unitedsikhs.org
Tel: +44 8701993328
www.unitedsikhs.org
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"The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) hails the decision held by United Nations in respect to the Sikh Identity & Attire.The efforts undertaken by United Sikhs in this noble cause are well noted and appreciated by us and we shall ensure our best possible cooperation in support of each and every case of Gurusikh in distress through governmental and non government channels," said Manjit Singh (GK), President, DSGMC.

“We are very pleased with the Committee’s decision. The Committee’s Views reaffirm Mr. Shingara Mann Singh’s fundamental right to religious freedom and observance, and we would welcome France’s compliance with the Committee’s findings,” said James Miller, an Associate at O'Melveny & Myers LLP, a law firm engaged by UNITED SIKHS to represent Shingara Singh.

“The UN Human Rights Committee’s decision makes clear that France’s law banning turbans and other headdresses in identification photographs is not only misguided, but it unduly infringes on individuals’ religious rights, thereby flying in the face of France’s obligations under international law. The case shows that the headdress ban is neither necessary to serve the French government’s purported aim of furthering public security and fraud prevention, nor is it proportionate to that aim. This decision sends the signal that governments cannot unduly restrict religious rights under the banner of security,” said Christine Bustany, Practitioner in Residence for International and Comparative Law at Suffolk University Law School. Ms. Bustany, a former Associate at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, represented Shingara Singh through the course of his previous filings before the UN Human Rights Committee.

“The decision sends a clear message that laws which have the apparent aim of safeguarding public order and safety must be weighed carefully against the fundamental right of freedom of religion. The French government now needs to respect the decision by providing the applicant with a remedy and by amending the relevant legislation,” said Lucy Claridge, Head of Law at Minority Rights Group International, who provided briefing and other support to the case with UNITED SIKHS.

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