News

At the feminist lawyers’ day, Rabia Küçükşahin was on the panel “Cross-connections of anti-Muslim racism”. The event discussed how religious symbols and their wearers are perceived and treated in a legal context. There was a critical discussion about why there are reservations about religious symbols, even within the feminist community, and how these can be combated.

link to panel (German)

In a video for the German Association of Women Lawyers, Rabia Küçükşahin reminds people of the European elections on June 9th and the importance of using their right to vote for the issues that are important to them.

link to video (German)

The book “JURA NOT ALONE” by law professor Nora Markard and lawyer and journalist Ronen Steinke referred in the human rights chapter to Rabia Küçükşahin’s commitment in writing and presenting  the alternative report on discrimination against headscarf-wearing women to the UN CEDAW Committee in Geneva.

As part of the International Weeks Against Racism, the Karlsruhe Anti-Discrimination Office has invited people to a one-day event to bring the problem of anti-Muslim racism to the attention of society . Experts will present the progress, setbacks and challenges in the fight against anti-Muslim racism. Following on from International Women’s Day on March 8th, Rabia Küçükşahin, @immernocharlotte and Saliha Soylu will use their expertise and their perspectives as Muslim women in Germany to discuss various aspects of the topic that particularly affect Muslim women in Germany in a moderated panel.

link to event (German)

The two student initiatives rescriptum – Munich student law magazine and Know Your Rights Initiative e.V., together with the Chair of Constitutional and Administrative Law, organized a panel discussion on the headscarf ban in the judiciary on December 13, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. at the LMU. The evening’s moderator was Dr. jur. Sonja Heitzer. On the panel were:

• Prof. Dr. jur. Ann-Katrin Kaufhold teaches constitutional and administrative law at the LMU. On the panel she questioned whether a judge wearing a headscarf is capable of endangering the functionality of the judiciary.

• Prof. Dr. jur. Peter M. Huber was involved in the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) on the legal trainee wearing a headscarf. The court ruled that it should be respected if the legislature decides that headscarf-wearing legal trainees

  • are not allowed to sit on the judge’s bench during negotiations in the courtroom, but can attend the hearing in the auditorium,

  • cannot chair meetings and/or take evidence,

  • cannot represent the public prosecutor’s office at meetings,

  • cannot chair a hearing committee meeting during the administrative station.

• Rabia Küçükşahin, religious studies (M.A.), law student at the Goethe University Frankfurt

Event Poster(German)

Decision of the Federal Constitutional Court on the headscarf-wearing legal trainee (German)

Decision of the Federal Constitutional Court on the headscarf-wearing legal trainee (English)

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) aims to ensure that people are legally and factually protected from racial discrimination. Together with the Office for the Implementation of Equal Treatment (BUG), we submitted an alternative report for CERD on racial profiling and anti-Muslim racism in Germany, which is published on the United Nations website.

link to Alternative Report (English)

link to Alternative Report (German)

link to Concluding observations

Rabia Küçükşahin spoke on rbbKultur Radio about her commitment to equal rights for headscarf-wearing women. In this interview (from 43:50 minutes) she speaks about laws restricting legal traineeship and making it impossible for  headscarf-weraring women to become a judge in Germany. She successfully spoke against these laws before the UN CEDAW Committee  in May. The CEDAW Committee recommends Germany to allow headscarves in public services and the judiciary.

link to interview

“The underlying problem is that a state tells people how they should or should not appear.” Rabia Küçükşahin spoke about this in her interview with Ronen Steinke for the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

link to interview

The women’s rights convention CEDAW is the most important human rights instrument for women in international law, since contracting states undertake to achieve actual equality for women and girls at all levels and in all areas. Together with the Bureau for the Implementation of Equal Treatment e.V. (BUG), we have written an alternative report for the UN Women’s Rights Convention CEDAW on discrimination against Muslim women in Germany, which has now been published on the United Nations website.

link to Alternative Report (English)

link to Alternative Report (German)

link to speech in front of the CEDAW Committee 

link to Concluding observations

link to press release by BUG (English)

link to press release by BUG (German)

In a pluralistic democracy, state institutions must reflect the diversity of its population. The state has to take care of that. In her presentation, Rabia Küçükşahin explains why legal headscarf bans send the wrong signal and pose a threat to our democracy.

At the very least, it should be irritating when laws are passed that appear to affect everyone equally, but in effect exclude a certain group of women with a certain religious practice from profession. How is a democracy to be evaluated when social minorities have only limited opportunities ? Can a democratic state exclude a certain group of citizens from its institutions by lawarti?

article link

journal link rechtverblüffend

It was only 100 years ago that women were given access to the jurist. state exam. In 2021 it was found out that people with an immigrant background are extremely underrepresented in administration and the judiciary. Diversity approaches are missing. In the workshop we will ask ourselves which discourses and measures are essential for a modern justice system in an immigration society. A critical reflection can question stereotypes and lead to prejudice-conscious professional action. Rabia Küçükşahin takes you on a journey that illuminates images in the mind and stereotypes in our everyday justice system.

link to Richterratschlag

“Diversity must be represented in state institutions. Representation matters.” Rabia Küçükşahin, a law student, talks about her petition against the law regulating the appearance of civil servants, the scope of the state’s neutrality requirement, and the need to strengthen anti-discrimination legislation.

portrait link

“I don’t want to accept that my status as an equal member in this society is constantly being questioned.” Rabia Küçükşahin in the podcast about her fight against discrimination.”

Podcast link

The Interior and Legal Affairs Committee of the Schleswig-Holstein State Parliament asked Rabia Küçükşahin for a written statement on the draft law to change civil service, career and co-determination regulations.

Statement link (German)

“The headscarf – How a fundamental right is made into a problem”
Murat Kayman in conversation with Rabia Küçükşahin

Video link

Regardless of whether it is the ban on headscarves for teachers or the ban on crucifixes from classrooms – the handling of religious symbols in state institutions has been the subject of heated debate in recent times. According to Article 4 of the Constitution (Grundgesetz), there is freedom of religion in Germany. This also means that one can exercise one’s faith freely.

Video link

“So help me God” is written in the law. Prohibiting female civil servants from wearing headscarves is not neutral. Anyone who feels they have been treated unfairly in court or at school because of their headscarf can defend themselves in another way. A reply to Berlin’s former interior senator Körting.

Article link

Hello,
‍
It’s great that so many of you are sending letters, faxes and e-mails to President Steinmeier, urging him that it must be possible after all,

Rabia Küçükşahin mentioned the demand for anti-discrimination laws in the podcast “Allgemein gebildet” by Sally Lisa Starken and Ralph Ruthe in the episode “Diversity and Diversity”. In addition, Rabia Küçükşahin talked about why religion is important to her, what she thinks of the new law and what she hopes for the future.

Podcast link

The Bundestag hastily passed a law regulating tattoos and clothing for civil servants at the end of April. It also deals with possible bans on religious symbols such as the Islamic headscarf or the Jewish yarmulke. Critics fear that the new law will be construed as a headscarf ban. The federal government rejects this, saying that the wearing of religious symbols would only be banned in exceptional cases. Which …

Invitation

Student against headscarf ban for female civil servants “Religious symbols are equated with anti-constitutional badges”. A new federal law is to regulate what female civil servants are allowed to wear. The kippa, headscarf and Christian symbols could then be banned. A law student from Frankfurt…

Article link

The Bundesrat has approved a law regulating the display of right-wing extremist tattoos by civil servants. The only problem is that in future this could also mean that civil servants are banned from wearing a kippa or headscarf, integration commissioners have criticised. The Bundesrat has…

Article link

Hi, everybody,

As was unfortunately to be expected, the Bundesrat confirmed the draft law today. However, we can chalk up a partial success. In his speech, MEP Benjamin Hoff pointed out what exactly is being passed (https://t1p.de/Kopftuchverbot-Rede-Benjamin-Hoff).

A law is not legally binding in Germany until it is signed by the Federal President. I would therefore like to ask you to point out to our Federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, that he should make use of his right not to sign this law due to constitutional concerns and to urge that it must be possible for the population composition to be represented in the civil service as well.

I have put together a draft letter (https://kurzelinks.de/Bundespraesident) for you to send to the Federal President.

I thank you all for your commitment and also the many allies who in the meantime have made themselves strong in the non-Muslim communities on the way to a plural, diverse and discrimination-free Federal Republic of Germany.

Your Rabia Küçükşahin

As a lawyer, like many others, I regularly read the Legal Tribune Online. There I found an article by law professor Kirsten Wiese about the law. She wrote, among other things, that it was not sufficiently publicly addressed that in…

Article link

Immediately before the vote in the Bundesrat (upper house of parliament) on a bill on the appearance of civil servants, which is expected on Friday, two online petitions are mobilising against the feared headscarf ban. Until…

Article link

Hi, everybody,

if this continues, we will crack the 150,000 mark before tomorrow’s Bundesrat session, making us one of the most successful petitions on change.org!

You will also have the opportunity to follow the Federal Council meeting live tomorrow. The meeting will be broadcast live from 9:25:

Feel free to watch, draw attention to it by tweeting about it, for example, and write to your state MP afterwards.

You can also find an interview with me on tagesspiegel.de here.

Best regards
Rabia Küçükşahin

Hi, everybody,

there is now actually a chance that we will crack the 100,000 mark by tonight. Tomorrow morning we have to send the petition to the members of the Bundesrat so that they can take note of it before the vote on Friday. Please give it your all again today to motivate people around you. A reminder email or Whatsapp can’t hurt.

And remember that you can also direkt anschreiben those who sit in the Bundesrat for your country.

In the meantime, the press has begun to show interest. Tagesspiegel.de, for example, will report on the petition.

If your vote is not enough to prevent the Bundesrat from agreeing on Friday, there is also the possibility to convince our Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier not to sign this law. But for this it would also be good to collect as many signatures as possible.

Thanks again for the support and give it your all one more time.
Rabia Küçükşahin

Hallo zusammen,

herzlichen Dank an alle, die bereits unterschrieben und/oder einen Kommentar hinterlassen haben. Aktuell haben schon mehr als 35.000 Menschen unterschrieben. Die Rückmeldungen sind überwältigend. Ich bin sehr berührt von eurem Engagement.

Bitte teilt weiter den Link zur Petition und schreibt euren zuständigen Landtagsabgeordneten. Je mehr hier unterschreiben, desto größer ist die Chance einige der Bundesratsmitglieder zu überzeugen, gegen das Gesetz zu stimmen. Teilt die Petition auf Facebook, Twitter, Instagramm in euren WhatsApp- und Telegram-Kontakten und schreibt so vielen Menschen wie möglich eine persönliche E-Mail.

Bitte sorgt dafür, dass alle bis Mittwochnacht (24 Uhr) unterschrieben haben. Ich werde die Petition dann an alle Mitglieder des Bundesrates weiterleiten, damit sie rechtzeitig dort ankommt.

Ich danke euch von Herzen
Rabia Küçükşahin