UN orders France to pay compensation to women convicted for wearing niqabs as ban ‘violates human rights’

France has been ordered to pay compensation to women convicted of wearing niqabs as the ban was considered a violation of their human rights.

The Human Rights Committee has ordered France to review its legislation on the full-face Islamic veil, which came into force in 2010.

The Committee said the country had failed to make its case for the ban and gave Paris 180 days to report back on what actions it had taken.

The panel of 18 independent experts said: ‘In particular, the Committee was not persuaded by France’s claim that a ban on face covering was necessary and proportionate from a security standpoint or for attaining the goal of ‘living together’ in society.’

However, a French foreign ministry spokesman said the law was legitimate, necessary and respected religious freedom, adding that the ban applies to hiding a person’s face and not to any type of religious clothing that leaves the face uncovered.

He also said that France’s constitutional court and the European Court of Human Rights had upheld the full-face veil ban, saying it did not violate religious freedom.

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Nevertheless, the UN Human Rights Committee disagreed and said the ban disproportionately harmed the right of women to manifest their religious beliefs and could lead to them being confined at home and feeling marginalised.

The findings follow complaints by two French women convicted in 2012 of wearing face-covering clothing.

France does not have to abide by the decisions of the Committee but an optional protocol of the treaty stated that it has an international legal obligation to comply ‘in good faith’.

Under the ban, anyone wearing the full-face veil in public is liable to a fine of €150 (£132) or lessons in French citizenship.

Some 223 fines were handed out in 2015 for wearing a full veil in public, according to Metronews media.

Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and the German state of Bavaria also have some restrictions on full-face veils in public places.

Around five million people of France’s 67 million population are Muslims.