From BuzzFeed
Shingara Mann Singh, 57, a French national since 1989, was unable to renew his passport in 2005 because authorities insisted that he would have to remove his turban for his passport identification photo according to France’s restrictions on turbans. After Singh refused to do so, United Sikhs, a non-profit New York-based group, filed a case with the U.N. Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) on his behalf.
The committee’s ruling, made public last week, concluded that France had violated Singh’s religious freedom. According to a United Sikhs press release, the UNHRC report stated:
The Committee therefore must conclude that the regulations requiring him to appear in his passport photographs ‘with the head uncovered’ is a disproportionate restriction that poses a threat to the author’s [Shingara Singh’s] freedom of religion and thereby constitutes, in the present instance, a violation of Article 18 of the Covenant.
The UNHRC also ruled that France had failed to demonstrate how the restriction imposed on him was necessary. According to the committee’s observations, France had not explained why a turban, which covers only the upper portion of the head and forehead, made it more difficult to identify the wearer even when the face was clearly visible.
