A controversial pro-Islam campaign, launched last week by the Council of Europe celebrating diversity and "freedom in the hijab," sparked strong opposition in France. The portraits of young women from this campaign were withdrawn on Tuesday.
The slogan "Freedom in the hijab" has been poorly received. A campaign celebrating diversity launched last week by the Council of Europe triggered a fierce controversy in France, leading the organization, a watchdog for human rights on the continent, to withdraw it on Tuesday, November 2nd.
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Launched last Thursday by the Council's Programme for Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination and co-financed by the European Union, this campaign featured portraits of several young women, veiled on only one half of the image.
A message in English notably stated: "Beauty is in diversity as freedom is in hijab."
Europe's submission is once again proven, yet fortunately, voices from all horizons are still rising against this voluntary Islamization of our old continent. The controversial pro-Islam campaign will not pass this year either, despite the advance of political Islam causing unease in the West.
Within the government, the Secretary of State for Youth, Sarah El Haïry, stated on LCI that France had "expressed its extremely strong disapproval, hence the withdrawal of this campaign as of (Tuesday)."
"These tweets have been withdrawn and we will reflect on a better presentation of this project," confirmed the Council of Europe, a pan-European organization based in Strasbourg, in a statement sent to AFP.
They "were part of a joint project" by the Council and the European Union "against discrimination, whose objective was to raise awareness of the need to respect diversity and inclusion and to combat all types of hate speech," the Council further justified.