Photo: AFPAFP · 30 Aug 2016, 12:28Published: 30 Aug 2016 12:28 GMT+02:00The UN on Tuesday welcomed a decision by France's highest administrative court to suspend a controversial ban on burqini swimwear, warning that the ban had fuelled religious intolerance and stigmatisation. He also decried that "the manner in which the anti-burqini decrees have been implemented in some French resorts has been humiliating and degrading." "Clearly, individuals wearing burqinis, or any other form of clothing for that matter, cannot be blamed for the violent or hostile reactions of others," he said. He warned that "by stimulating polarisation between communities, these clothing bans have only succeeded in increasing tensions ... (and may) undermine the effort to fight and prevent violent extremism." "Gender equality cannot be achieved by restricting individual freedoms including by policing what individual women choose to wear," he said.

Source: The Local August 30, 2016 10:30 UTC