M. Le Premier Minister

Jean-Pierre Raffarin

Hotel De Matignon

57,rue de Varenne

75700 Paris, France

We have received the news of banning Hijab in schools and universities in France with great enthusiasm and

pleasure.

We are women from Middle Eastern countries who have witnessed the brutal reality of imposing Hijab by the governments in Islamic stricken countries such as in Iran and Sudan or by Islamic groups in Iraq or even by individuals and family members.

When we heard the Algerian prime Minster’s comments about your government’s decision, that it will breach the individual’s civil rights, we could not help but wonder if he is so "concerned" about civil and individuals rights why he does not bother to mention the daily violation of civil rights for women, men and children that are happening every day in all the countries of the Middle East?

We are aware of the bankrupt argument of the Islamic group’s claiming that this law violates personal freedoms and human rights. That is just hypocrisy. Imposing the veil on female children (under the age of 16) is the first violation of children’s rights.

We are aware that this false debate is not about the rights of girls to choose their clothes; rather it is about child abuse and part of a political agenda to spread and consolidate political Islam in the world today. We would like to reiterate the fact that a large number of Middle Eastern communities; men and women are striving for a secular states and secular education not just in Europe but also in the Middle East and all over the world.

We have organized many campaigns to demand secular education to protect children from religious education as part of our struggle to protect children’s rights. We urge the French government to:

- Enforce an immediate prohibition of the veil on children.

- Enforce an immediate prohibition of religious schools and education.

- Put an end to the ghetto-isolation and adopt an active and immediate policy for the integration of the immigrants in France.

- Put an end to all subsidies and governmental grants and payments to religious organizations and institutions.

Best Regards