Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

NIQAB

Women defiant as Danish ban on full-face veil takes effect

Denmark's controversial ban on the Islamic full-face veil in public spaces came into force on Wednesday as women protested the new measure which fines anyone wearing the garment.

Published: 1 August 2018 17:59 CEST
Women defiant as Danish ban on full-face veil takes effect
People demonstrate against the ban on burqa and niqab in Nørrebro, Copenhagen on August 1st. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

Human rights campaigners have slammed the ban as a violation of women's rights, while supporters argue it enables better integration of Muslim immigrants into Danish society. 

Protests against the ban were planned in Copenhagen and Aarhus late on Wednesday, with several hundred people expected to attend, some of them wearing the full-face veil.

A spokesman for the Copenhagen police said they did not plan to fine the protesters who violated the ban.

Wearing a burqa, which covers a person's entire face, or the niqab, which only shows the eyes, in public will lead to a fine of 1,000 kroner (134 euros).

The ban also targets other accessories that hide the face such as balaclavas and false beards. Repeated violations will be fined up to 10,000 kroner.

A 30-year-old Muslim woman interviewed by newspaper Berlingske, identified only as Sarah, said she had “lost faith in the system”.

Born and raised in Denmark by parents who emigrated from Turkey, she has worn the niqab since she was 18.

“I've realised that democracy doesn't work. Politicians boast of freedoms and rights when they are making fun of Muslims and when they are drawing caricatures of the prophet. But when it comes to me, they take away my right to choose how I want to dress,” she said.

“I have come to the realisation that Muslims don't have the same rights as others. So much of politics is hypocritical.”

Earlier this year, a woman who wore the niqab told The Local she felt the law oppressed religious freedom.

“We’re against the ban because we live in Denmark and we believe that everybody should have the free choice and decide themselves what they want to wear. We want to be allowed to wear the niqab and practice our religion. [The new law] is against the constitution in Denmark, so we’re trying to fight that,” Maria, who requested not to use her full name, from dialogue group Kvinder i Dialog said.

It is not known how many women wear the niqab and burqa across the country.

“I don't think there are many who wear the burqa here in Denmark. But if you do, you should be punished with a fine,” Justice Minister Søren Pape Poulsen was quoted as saying by Ritzau in February when the government presented its proposal for the ban.

READ ALSO: Police will not forcibly remove veils from women: Danish justice minister

It said at the time that the burqa and niqab were not “compatible with the values and sense of community in Danish society”.

Amnesty International on Wednesday condemned the law as a “discriminatory violation of women's rights”, especially against Muslim women who choose to wear the full-face veils.

“If the intention of this law was to protect women's rights it fails abjectly. Instead, the law criminalises women for their choice of clothing – making a mockery of the freedoms Denmark purports to uphold,” Deputy Europe Director Fotis Filippou said in a statement.

“Whilst some specific restrictions on the wearing of full face veils for the purposes of public safety may be legitimate, this blanket ban is neither necessary nor proportionate and violates women's rights to freedom of expression and religion,” he added.

Last year, the European Court of Human Rights upheld a Belgian ban on wearing the full-face veil in public.

France was the first European country to ban the niqab in public places with a law that took effect in 2011.

READ ALSO: 'Because I have children and I don’t want to get into problems, I will remove my veil'

REFERENDUM

EXPLAINED: What impact will the burqa ban have on Switzerland?

Swiss voters on Sunday narrowly backed a ban on full face coverings in public places, which includes burqas and other forms of clothing that conceal the face.

Published: 8 March 2021 14:12 CET
EXPLAINED: What impact will the burqa ban have on Switzerland?
Burqas and other face concealments will not be allowed in Switzerland. Photo by LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI / AFP

Official results showed that 51.2 percent of voters and a majority of cantons supported the controversial proposal.

READ MORE: Swiss voters narrowly back controversial ‘burqa ban’

What are the reactions to the ban?

Proponents of the initiative expressed their satisfaction with how the vote turned out.

“We are glad, we don’t want radical Islam in our country at all”, said Marco Chiesa, head of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), which spearheaded the vote. 

On its website, the party said that the ban on concealing one’s face also “ensures greater security, because this measure also explicitly targets hooligans and leftist thugs who, concealed by hoods, commit acts of violence and vandalism”.

However those who opposed this measure are critical of the vote outcome.

“The question should not have been asked at the polls. This vote was a pretext to add fuel to the fire”, said  Islamologist Stéphane Lathion.

The Swiss chapter of Amnesty International noted that the new measure “discriminates against a particular religious community, and fuels division and fears”. 

Roger Nordmann, head of the Socialist lawmakers in parliament, said that some people voted for the ban for “feminist reasons” — that is, to free Muslim women from being forced to cover their face.

However, “no problem has been solved and women’s rights have not progressed either,” he said. 

Was the vote driven by Islamophobia?

While the post-referendum survey conducted among the Swiss voters by Tarmedia showed that 91 percent of SVP members voted to accept the initiative, some members of centrist and leftist parties also said ‘yes’  – but for different reasons. 

More than half of supporters of centrist parties and a fifth of those belonging to the Green and Social Democratic Party also slipped a “yes” in the ballot box.

But unlike the SVP supporters, these liberal voters backed the initiative for feminist reasons as well as secular ones — to exclude religious symbols from public life. 

What happens now? 

The Federal Council, which is the executive branch of the government, will submit proposals to parliament on how to implement this initiative.

However, this will not happen overnight: authorities have two years to draw up detailed legislation.

What is the likely impact of this new measure?

It will certainly stimulate political debate, but the actual effect is likely going to be limited.

There are less than 100 women who wear full face veils in Switzerland, so the impact will not be widespread.

In Ticino, where burqa ban has been in effect since 2016, fines of up to 10,000 francs can be imposed for breaking this law. However, none have been given out so far.

The ban may, however, have a negative effect on Switzerland’s tourism sector, which has already suffered multi-billion-franc losses in the past year due to the pandemic.

Switzerland “will lose these well-off guests from the Gulf countries”, according to Barbara Gisi, director of the Swiss Tourism Federation.

In 2019, nearly 864,000 people from these states visited Switzerland.

In Ticino, burqa ban has had an impact on tourism, Gisi said. The canton has lost 30 percent of visitors from the Gulf countries after the law went into effect.

The Federation will try “through awareness-raising actions to welcome as many socially more progressive tourists as possible from these states”, Gisi added.

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

SHOW COMMENTS