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‘Islamists treat women like rats’: Progress

Youth leaders from Norway's right-wing Progress Party donned burkas and chains for an International Women’s Day protest on Sunday, with one marcher claiming that “Islamists treat women like rats".

Published: 9 March 2015 12:43 CET
'Islamists treat women like rats': Progress
Progress Party activists dressed in Burqa's in central Oslo. Photo: Private
“Islamists treat women like rats," Sara Berge Økland, a member of the central board of the party's youth league, told Dagbladet. "We are especially concerned with things like forced marriage, domestic violence and female genital mutilation, and that the women do not get to live out their own ambitions and desires.”
 
Progress, the junior partner in Norway's right-wing coalition government, has campaigned to introduce a law banning Burqas and Niqabs, which cover the entire face of women, ever since a similar law was passed in France in 2010. 
 
At the time, party leader Siv Jensen said that a ban would “liberate women from oppression and totalitarian thoughts. Women who live in freedom-loving countries should be free from this kind of coercion”. Critics have pointed out that only a handful of Muslim women in Norway wear the garments. 
 
The issue reached the agenda again in 2013, when the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg found that the French ban on Niqabs and Burkas did not violate human rights. 
 
According to Dagbladet, all of the parties in Norway's parliament agree that garments that conceal identity and hamper  communication are not desirable in public spaces, although only Progress wants to see a ban on certain clothing.
 
When the issue was debated in parliament on February 17th this year, Peter Christian Frølich, MP for the Conservative Party told Dagbladet: “We are not sure that the struggle against the oppression of women should be fought through the wardrobe”.
 
 
 

REFERENDUM

EXPLAINED: What is Switzerland’s ‘anti-burqa’ initiative all about?

Swiss voters will go to the ballot box on March 7th to weigh in on three issues. One of the most controversial ones is the so-called ‘anti-burqa’ initiative.

Published: 1 March 2021 16:13 CET
Updated: 2 March 2021 09:02 CET
EXPLAINED: What is Switzerland’s ‘anti-burqa’ initiative all about?
A campaign poster to ban burqas in Switzerland. Photo by Fabrice Coffrini / AFP

What is this issue about?

The ‘Yes to a ban on full facial coverings’ initiative seeks to outlaw both religious and non-religious forms of facial concealment in public spaces.

It is ironic, of course, that currently everyone from the age of 12 must be wearing masks which, in itself, are a form of facial concealment.

OPINION: Switzerland’s ‘burka ban’ curtails rather than strengthens individual freedoms

However, this particular initiative applies to total disguise, as in burqa or niqab, both of which cover women’s faces to different degrees.

Exemptions would apply to religious sites, health reasons or in the event of particular weather conditions.

Who is backing this initiative?

A group called the Egerkingen Committee is behind the drive to outlaw burqas and other forms of Muslim wear that conceal the face.

The group consists of members of the rightwing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), which has a long history of anti-Muslim actions, including the highly contentious 2009 referendum to ban the construction of minarets on Switzerland’s mosques.

The measure was accepted by Swiss voters. 

“The full veil is closely linked to radical Islamist ideology and is contrary to our way of life,” said Walter Wobmann, chairman of the Egerkingen committee. “

“In our culture, it is customary to show your face in public space. Hiding your face violates social order”, he noted.

READ MORE: EXPLAINED: What is at stake in Switzerland’s March 7th referendums? 

Who is opposing this measure?

All of Switzerland’s other major political parties have spoken against the ban.

Centrist and left-leaning parties have formed a committee which campaigns against this move.

“Clothing regulations have no place in the Federal Constitution. The initiative tackles a false problem, ignores existing rules and stokes social tensions. In addition, it intrudes on private life and does not take into account cantonal disparities. Politicians from all major parties therefore oppose this populist proposal”, the committee wrote on its website.

The government is also urging voters to defeat this proposal, arguing that it goes too far.

Instead, the Federal Council and the parliament have created a counter-proposal, which require persons to show their faces to the police or other officials if this is necessary for identification purposes.

“The counter-proposal, which can only come into force if the initiative is rejected, would also introduce measures aimed at improving women’s rights,” authorities said.

Are burqas really a problem in Switzerland?

The opponents of the initiative point out that in Switzerland, no woman wears what is called ‘burqa’, that is to say, a full veil that also hides the eyes with a grid.

“According to a recent study, in addition to Arab tourists, there are 20 to 30 women in Switzerland wearing the niqab. The majority of niqab wearers in Switzerland are socialised in the West, have an average to very good education and wear the niqab out of conviction”, not to spearhead radical Muslim ideas, they say.

In all, Muslims account for just over 5 percent of Switzerland’s population of 8.6 million people, and form the third largest religion group after the dominant Roman Catholic and Protestant communities, although just 50,000 are estimated to worship openly.

READ MORE: Switzerland to hold a referendum on ending coronavirus restrictions 

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