Belgium: Harassment Of Florence Hainaut Is A Threat To Freedom Of Expression And Religious Freedoms

Location: Belgium, Brussels
Date: July 28, 2020

Le Soir’s feminist journalist Florence Hainaut was targeted with an online harassment campaign following her opinion piece about headscarf published on July 18.

Florence took the insults and profanities to Facebook first, upon receiving guidance on the matter from Fem&L.A.W. about taking legal action against the perpetrators the journalist decided to remove the screenshots in the meanwhile.

The piece titled “Cachez ce foulards” (“Hide this scarf) was critical of a court ruling concerning the headscarf ban on high school students at Francisco Ferrer High School of the City of Brussels. The decision cited “ensuring a neutral environment free of prejudice” as grounds to rule in favor of the ban.

Florence, in her piece approached the issue from a feminist approach stating that the headscarf is the most visible religious piece of clothing, however where women are not hired for most public positions due to their headscarves even for positions where they would not be in contact with the public, Muslim men with beards and loose fitting pants are hired with no question. 

Urging the society to stop painting every headscarf wearing women with the same brush, Florence in the “carte blanche” highlighted the importance of intersectional feminism and that women should not be seen as weak victims for a piece of clothing.

As soon as the piece was published on Le Soir’s social media accounts, the collective page of an organisation that brands itself "The Observatory of Fundamentalisms in Brussels", posted messages accusing the journalist of "having links with political Islam or anti-democratic fundamentalist movements" and of having fallen "into the arms of the Muslim Brotherhood". 

Council of Europe cited the online harrasment campaign as a level 2 threat on Friday with EFJ denouncing the inflammatory comments.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism firmly believes in women’s choices. Belgian authorities must investigate the accounts behind the harassment campaign against Florence Hainaut.

The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.

If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.