Europe’s top human rights organization has pulled posters from a campaign that alledgedlly promoted respect for Muslim women who choose to wear headscarves after provoking opposition in France.
The Council of Europe released the images last week for a campaign against “anti-Muslim discrimination”.
A slogan on one advert read: “Beauty is in diversity as freedom is in hijab”.
Several prominent French politicians condemned the message and argued the hijab did not represent freedom.
France’s youth minister, Sarah El Haïry, said she was shocked by one poster, which showed a split image of one women wearing a hijab, and one not.
In an interview on French TV, the minister suggested the poster had encouraged women to wear headscarves. She said this message jarred with the secular values of France, which had expressed its disapproval of the campaign.
On Wednesday, the Council of Europe told the BBC that tweets related to the campaign had been deleted “while we reflect on a better presentation of this project”.
A spokesman said the tweets were part of an anti-hate speech campaign led by the inclusion and anti-discrimination department of the Council of Europe.
One of Europe’s oldest political organizations, the Council of Europe aims to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Its activities are distinct from, but partly funded by, the European Union.
The integration of all groups of Muslims into French society has become an increasingly prominent political issue in recent years. France hosts Europe’s largest Muslim minority, an estimated five million people.
In 2011, France became the first European country to ban the full-face Islamic veil in public places.
The Council of Europe’s posters started drawing the attention of French politicians from parties of the left, right and center on Monday.
Among those to weigh in were leading candidates in next year’s presidential election.
In one tweet, right-wing commentator Eric Zemmour, who is riding high in the polls despite not yet declaring his candidacy, accused the campaign of promoting “the veiling of Europeans”.
National Rally candidate Marine Le Pen tweeted: “It’s when women take their veil off that they become free, not the other way around”.
With information from: BBC
