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Chamber and committees

European Court of Justice Ruling and its Impact on Religious Hatred

  • Submitted by: Anas Sarwar, Glasgow, Scottish Labour.
  • Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2017
  • Motion reference: S5M-04639

That the Parliament expresses its disappointment at the European Court of Justice's decision that it believes allows employers to ban their workers from wearing items at work that they regard as religious symbols, including headscarves, skull caps and turbans; considers that this ruling will make it even more difficult for people from religious communities, including Muslim women who wear a headscarf, Jewish men who wear and skull cap and Sikhs who wear a turban, to enter the job market in the future; agrees with Amnesty International that this will open a backdoor to prejudice at a time when identity and appearance have become a political battleground and when people need more protection against prejudice, not less; considers that this is part of a worrying trend of increasing religious prejudice, particularly Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, across mainland Europe; expresses concern at the rising support for parties and politicians who it considers openly incite religious hatred, such as Geert Wilders in the Netherlands and Marine Le Pen in France; believes that everyone must redouble their efforts to confront all forms of religious discrimination, and calls on the Scottish Government to set out what implications this ruling will have for employees in Scotland and its courts.


Supported by: Jackie Baillie, Neil Bibby, Mary Fee, Neil Findlay, John Finnie, Rhoda Grant, Iain Gray, Daniel Johnson, Monica Lennon, Jenny Marra, Pauline McNeill, Alex Rowley, Mark Ruskell