France Readies Burqa Law, UK Urges Ban

IslamOnline.net & Newspapers

CAIRO — While France is preparing a law to ban the wearing of face-veil in the European country by spring, the anti-veil camp is gaining new backers in neighboring Britain.


"In a democracy, we don’t live behind a mask," said French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, reported France24 on Friday, March 12.

"That is why we have decided, with the president to legislate (the burqa ban) in the spring."

Fillon said the burqa, an outfit covering the whole body from head to toe and wore by some Muslim women, runs counter to France’s liberal principles.

"A full veil that hides the whole face runs contrary to our idea of free and open social interaction," he told a meeting of activists and supporters of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).

France has been gripped by a heated debate on the face-veil – burqa and niqab - since President Nicolas Sarkozy had declared the outfit “not welcome” in the secular country.

Fillon has recently asked the top court to help the government draft a law banning the face-veil after a parliamentary panel recommended a partial ban on the wear in hospitals, schools, public transport and government offices.

According to the Interior Ministry, only about 1,900 Muslim women are estimated to being using face-veils.

In 2004, France, home to nearly seven million Muslims, the biggest Muslim minority in Europe, banned hijab in schools and public places.

While hijab is an obligatory code of dress for Muslim women, the majority of Muslim scholars agree that a woman is not obliged to wear the face-veil.

Scholars believe it is up to women to decide whether to take on the veil or burqa.

Ban


he anti-burqa camp is also gaining grounds in Britain, with calls for banning the outfit.

“In my view, and the view of my constituents, wearing the burqa is not an acceptable form of dress and the banning of it should be seriously considered,'' Philip Hollobone, Conservative MP for Kettering, told the Daily Telegraph.

Hollobone said the face-veil was “oppressive and regressive” to the advancement of women in society.

“It goes against the British way of life,” he said.

"If we all went around wearing burqas our country would be a very sad place.”

Last January, the right-wing UK Independence Party (UKIP) called for banning face-veils from public and private places in the north-western European country.

The far-right British National Party has also called for banning it in schools.

Similar debates are also heating up in Italy, Denmark, Netherlands and Germany.

“I seriously think that a ban on wearing the burqa in public should be considered,” Hollobone told the House of Commons earlier this week.

“This is Britain. We are not a Muslim country.”

On Monday, the EU top rights chief harshly criticized European politicians’ calls for banning face-veil.

Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, said the ban would constitute an ill-advised invasion of individual privacy and a violation to European Convention on Human Rights.