A seven-member Sikh delegation organized by United Sikhs met with the special advisor to the French Ambassador to London, Assia Xixiou on Monday, January 19th. During the meeting, the delegation delivered to the Ambassador some 9,000 signatures for the Right To Turban, a global petition launched by United Sikhs three weeks ago "for building a consensus and creating awareness of the issues raised by the proposed law."

According to a press statement issued by United Sikhs, the delegation was told that the French government is still planning to implement the proposed law which will ban the wearing of "ostentatious" religious symbols by the start of the next school year. However, the ban will only apply to state schools and there are no plans "for the time being" to implement a similar law at universities or in the workplace.

This is a departure from the message French President Jacques Chirac gave to the French people on December 17th, 2003 when he called for bans to be adopted in the Universities and in the workplace, as well.

"This ban is necessary because religious symbols lead to intolerance which manifests itself as religious and racial hatred," Xixiou said. "The banning of ostensible religious symbols leaves children open to the sharing of basic overall values in a truly open society which reflects the spirit of republican France," she added.

She said that she does not know how the Sikh turban will be treated under the proposed law but she believes that it will be categorized as a religious sign.

She said that the turban could not be considered a cultural requirement because there is no such thing as a mandatory requirement in culture.

"Religion prescribes. Culture doesn't," Xixiou commented.

The Sikh turban was not mentioned when President Chirac announced the ban on Muslim veils, Jewish skull caps and large crucifixes in schools in his speech last year.

"This is not a change in the French vision of society. This is merely a different model of integration for a model that has existed since 1905, when secularism was installed by the separation of state and religion due to the crisis between Catholic establishments and the State," Xixiou said when asked about the reason and timing for the legislation.

"The restriction will only apply whilst the child is at school. School is a symbolic place where one becomes a citizen and melts into French society."

"It is a continuing of a vision of a melting pot which integrates a foreign community," she said.

Mejindarpal Kaur, director of United Sikhs, said that the French Sikh community had an immediate problem of school provision as they would not be prepared to remove their turban.

"And there is no alternative to managing their long unshorn hair," she added.

"“The law is the law - if you cannot comply with the law there is always the private sector. The existence of faith schools in France today is the result of this practice, she added.

Xixiou was not optimistic of a change in the direction of the law. However, she said, "The law will be implemented in the spirit of a dialogue."

She said that the Stasi commission which proposed the law after a 6 month study had met a representative of the Sikh community in London in December last year.

"The Sikhs find the consequences unimaginable as there is no alternative to the turban," said Daljeet Singh, president of the National Gurdwara Council UK, which serves the interest of some 200 Gurdwaras and 750,000 members of the Sikh congregation.

United Sikhs is currently pursuing a strategy of investigating whether or not the proposed French legislation would violate the European Convention on Human Rights.

United Sikhs will continue to meet with French Ambassadors around the world to present the petition. Today a Sikh family delivered the Right To Turban petition to the French Diplomat in Lima, Peru.

On 21st January, a delegation of Sikh organizations led by United Sikhs will meet the French Ambassador in Washington; Officials at the Office of International Religious Freedoms in the US State Department; and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

For more information on United Sikhs, visit www.unitedsikhs.org.