10 January 2017

Court rules Muslim girls MUST swim with boys after Government says integrate or leave

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said school bosses are justified in enforcing the "full school curriculum" and children's "succesful integration" into society.

Although the court recognised religious freedoms were being interfered with, judges said there was no violation.

The landmark case comes after two Swiss nationals, of Turkish origin, from Basel refused to send their teenager daughters to mixed swimming lessons.

Education bosses said exemptions were only available for girls who had reached the age of puberty - which the girls hadn’t reached at the time.

The parents were ordered to pay a fine of around 1,300 swiss francs (£1,100) for “acting in breach of their parental duty" after a long-running fued in 2010.

Therefore they argued this was a breach of article nine of the ECHR, which covers the religious rights.

However the ECHR held unanimously, that there had been "no violation of Article 9 (right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the European Convention on Human Rights". [Daily Express] Read more