ECHR: Muslim Girls Must Swim With Boys

Aziz Osmanoglu with his wife

In a case that has been on since 2010, the European Court for Human Rights has turned down the plea of Muslim parents who want separate swimming sessions for their children. In July 2010, Aziz Osmanoglu was fined £1,140 in Switzerland for refusing to allow his two daughters take part in swimming classes with boys. It was a long battle between Aziz and the Swiss government. Muslims in Germany have also faced the same problem but, all their pleas appears to have fallen on deaf ears after the recent ruling by the ECHR that compels Muslim children to take swimming classes with the opposite gender. The ECHR justified its verdict thus, “The children’s interest in a full education, thus facilitating their successful social integration according to local customs and mores, prevailed over the parents’ wish to have their children exempted from mixed swimming lessons.” The Swiss and German authorities have given Muslim girls the option of wearing the burkini (a swim suit that covers the whole body like a diver’s suit) but Muslims are not satisfied with that offer because the burkini still shows the contours of the body; which is against Islam. The Muslims in Switzerland are fighting back at the ECHR ruling by making plans to establish a private Islamic school that will teach swim according to Islamic standards. The Basel Muslim Council in Switzerland has backed Mr Aziz who has refused to allow his daughters, 16 and 18, to take part in the swimming classes. Since the imposition of fines started, a non-Muslim philanthropist theologian, Yohannes Czwalina, has repeatedly paid-off fines on behalf of numerous Muslims and has said he will continue to do so. Yohannes said he will gladly contribute to the establishment of the Islamic school. Muslims make-up over 5% of the total Swiss population.