Sikhs in Europe fear restriction of religious freedom
The freedom of an estimated one million Sikhs in Europe to visibly practice their faith is a major concern for Sikhs throughout the world. Sikh and human rights representatives from over a dozen countries across the globe took part in a conference to highlight the problem of religious freedoms. For the last couple of years the right to wear the Sikh turban (dastaar) in France with respect to school children and when obtaining documentation, such as passports and driving licences have been well publicised. Similarly Sikhs with turbans are not able to take up public appointments and more recently some Sikhs in France are even being prevented from entering banks unless they agree to remove their turbans. Similar problems exist for school children in Belgium and difficulties for Sikhs to work while wearing the turban are occurring at an alarming rate, reports Gurjeet Singh of the Sikh Federation (UK). The Sikhs have been fighting these restrictions and are preparing to take several of their cases to the European Court of Human Rights.
