Amnesty International has strongly condemned the ban, calling it “discriminatory hypocrisy.” They argue that the policy breaches international human rights laws and infringes on athletes' rights to participate in sports without discrimination. Amnesty International, alongside ten other organizations, has called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to intervene.

Despite these calls, the IOC has stated that overturning the policy is beyond its remit, noting that "freedom of religion is interpreted in many different ways by different states." The IOC clarified that while its own rules, which apply within the Olympic Village, permit athletes to wear headscarves, national policies like France's are outside their control. “There are no restrictions on wearing the hijab or any other religious or cultural attire,” the IOC added regarding its own regulations.

Anna Błuś, Amnesty International’s Women’s Rights Researcher in Europe, criticized the ban, saying, “Banning French athletes from competing with sports hijabs at the Olympic and Paralympic Games makes a mockery of claims that Paris 2024 is the first Gender Equal Olympics and lays bare the racist gender discrimination that underpins access to sport in France.”

France remains the only European country that prohibits headscarf-wearing women from participating in most domestic sports competitions.