海角大神

Muslim girls in Switzerland will not receive exemptions from mixed-sex swim classes on the basis of religion, a European court has ruled.

The ruling comes at a time when many European nations find their contemporary customs at odds with those of conservative Muslim immigrants. In some cases, burkas have been banned from schools or even the public sector entirely, with lawmakers arguing that聽the attire raises safety concerns. Others have criticized such measures as anti-Muslim pushback against new citizens in an attempt to shift their way of life or discourage more Muslims from immigrating.

As many immigrants struggle to find a comfortable balance between preserving their original culture and fitting into a new one, debates on interference with religious freedom and the role of the state remain.

The case was brought by a Turkish-born couple who received fines in Switzerland for keeping their daughters out of mixed-gender, mandatory public-school swimming lessons, citing restrictions stemming from their Muslim faith. Weighing religious freedom against a need to integrate children into the nation鈥檚 鈥渃ustoms and mores,鈥� the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg announced the ruling in favor of Switzerland on Tuesday.

鈥淭he children鈥檚 interest in attending swimming lessons was not just to learn to swim, but above all to , with no exception on account of the children鈥檚 origin or their parents鈥� religious or philosophical convictions,鈥� the court said in a statement regarding its decision.

A Swiss law allows parents of children who have reached puberty to pull them from the mixed-sex lessons, but this recent case did not meet that requirement. The authorities had also offered flexible arrangements to the parents, saying that the girls could wear burkinis if they chose, according to the statement.

聽elsewhere聽in the country and in Germany, where judges have ruled that girls must attend school-sponsored swim lessons but allowed them to wear burkinis. Like in the Swiss case, a goal of protecting foreign-born children from 鈥渟ocial exclusion鈥� was upheld by requiring that the students participate in the co-ed curriculum.

The parents were fined nearly 鈧�1,300 for 鈥渂reach of parental duty鈥� in 2010. 聽While the court noted that the rules and decision affirming them constituted an 鈥渋nterference鈥� with the family鈥檚 religion, it ruled that the case did not meet the bar for violating freedom of religion, and that the law would be beneficial for the girls if they complied with the special accommodations offered to them.

鈥淭he Court accordingly found that by giving precedence to the children鈥檚 obligation to follow the full school curriculum and their successful integration over the applicants鈥� private interest in obtaining an exemption from mixed swimming lessons for their daughters on religious grounds, the domestic authorities had not exceeded the considerable margin of appreciation afforded to them in the present case, which concerned compulsory education,鈥� the statement said.

This report contains material from the Associated Press.