Question 14350 — religions and cults

Summary

Ms. Marine Hamelet questions the Minister of the Interior about the statements he made on March 12, 2026, in front of the Grand Mosque of Paris, in these terms: “I will not be the one who goes and explains to children that by wearing the veil, they threaten republican living together.” These words are alarming, in several ways. Firstly, the remarks made by the Minister of the Interior seem resolutely to align with the position communitarianism defended by the extreme left and this, precisely in a context where the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris himself recalled that the wearing of the veil should not be current in France for children. Beyond respecting republican principles, the wearing of the veil imposed on minors raises issues directly incompatible with child protection and the best interests of the child. On the one hand, it carries infringement of the right to the free formation of conscience. A child of seven, nine or twelve years old does not freely choose to wear a religious sign with a strong identity charge: he wears it because an adult (parent, community, social pressure) imposed it on him or conditioned him to do so, even before he has developed the capacity for discernment necessary for an autonomous spiritual choice. By legitimizing this practice, the Minister of the Interior validates a form of ideological conditioning contrary to the very spirit of children's rights. On the other hand, this reality poses a fundamental problem of equality between women and men. The Islamic veil is only imposed on women. Its theological justifications are based on representations of women as a source of moral trouble and of female modesty as a duty. Inoculating minors with such representations is their transmit from a very young age a vision of themselves based on an inferiority of status, which is precisely contrary to the values ​​of equality that the Republic must defend. These statements also create a clear contradiction within the executive. As of November 30, 2025, Ms. Aurore Bergé, Minister Delegate responsible for equality between women and men and the fight against discrimination, publicly pronounced in favor of banning minors from wearing the veil in order to “protect children”, following the publication of a particularly alarming report on Islamist entryism. The words of the Minister of the Interior thus seem to directly contradict the position of a member of his own Government. Furthermore, there is reason to question the consistency of this position with the commitments of the President of the Republic itself. In 2022, during the presidential debate concluding the campaign for his re-election, Mr. Emmanuel Macron announced that he would make child protection the major issue of his five-year term. She asks him if these declarations receive his full assent and, if so, how he intends to reconcile them with the solemn commitment made by the President of the Republic to the French. Finally, in a context where the risk of separatism and Islamist entryism is more relevant than ever, she asks him to clarify the official position of the Government on the wearing of the veil by minors and to indicate the measures it intends to take to effectively guarantee the protection of children and equality between the sexes in the face of practices contrary to the fundamental values ​​of the Republic.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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1. 14 April 2026

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• Marine Hamelet · auteur

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