France discriminated against hijab-wearing vocational trainee -U.N. document

A woman wearing a hijab walks at Trocadero square near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, May 2, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/Files

PARIS (Reuters) - A United Nations committee ruled that France discriminated against a Muslim woman who was prevented from attending vocational training in a public school while wearing her Islamic head scarf, according to a U.N. document.

In 2010, Naima Mezhoud, now aged 45, was due to train as a management assistant at a course held in a state high school, where teenagers are prohibited by law from wearing the hijab. When she arrived, the head teacher of the school in the northern outskirts of Paris barred her from entering, according to the document which was seen by Reuters.