Ban full Muslim face veils (burqas) - in France

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France's National Assembly
should pass a resolution denouncing full Muslim face veils


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World News ...FRANCE

France's National
Assembly should pass a resolution denouncing full Muslim face veils and then vote the strictest law possible to ban women from wearing them, a parliamentary commission has proposed.

Presenting conclusions after six months of hearings, the panel also suggested barring foreign women from obtaining asylum or French citizenship if they insisted on veiling their faces.

But it could not agree whether to opt for an absolute ban on the veils, known here as burqas or niqabs, or one restricted to public buildings because some members thought a total ban would be unconstitutional.

"The full veil represents in an extraordinary way everything that France spontaneously rejects," National Assembly President Bernard Accoyer said as the commission delivered its report.

"It's a symbol of the subjugation of women and the banner of extremist fundamentalism."

While not defending the all-enclosing veils, leaders of the five-million-strong Muslim minority say a legal ban would be excessive since fewer than 2,000 women are said to wear them.

Jamel Debbouze, a highly popular Parisian-born comedian of Moroccan background, condemned the plan as xenophobic. "People who go down that path are racists," he told French radio.

The veil issue has become linked with another controversial debate about national identity that the government launched only months before regional elections in March. "This debate is sterile and dangerous electioneering," Debbouze said.

Supporters of a ban say civil servants need a law to allow them to turn away fully veiled women who cannot be identified when they seek municipal services such as medical care, child support or public transport.

Andre Gerin, a communist deputy from Lyon who headed the commission, said a total ban would also help combat what he called "gurus of fundamentalism" who he said were spreading radical Islamism and forcing women to wear full veils.

He said France needed "an Islam compatible with the Republic" and its values of secularism and sexual equality.

Eric Raoult, a conservative deputy and vice-chairman of the commission, said a resolution denouncing full veils should find wide support in parliament but a law banning them needed to be carefully drafted to ensure it is not overturned.

"There wouldn't be anything worse than proclaiming something and seeing it annulled by the Constitutional Council," he said.

Ad Feedback The commission presented a draft resolution to denounce full face veils, examine the legal basis for a ban and characterise veiling as a radical religious practice that is contrary to French values and grounds to reject requests for citizenship.

The text said the state should study the motivations of veiled women, do more to combat violence against women and teach more about sexual equality at school.

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Full veil not welcome in France, says SarkozyComments

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Lizzy Davies Paris
The Guardian, Thursday 14 January 2010
Article history

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Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, is backing moves to ban the full Islamic veil in France.



Nicolas Sarkozy last night threw his weight behind moves to ban the full Islamic veil in France, calling for an "unambiguous" parliamentary resolution against an item of clothing he said was "not welcome" in a country which valued sexual equality.

The president, who had shied away from speaking on the issue recently, used his new year's speech to express his desire for a move against face-covering veils.

But, perhaps to dampen down accusations of stoking anti-Muslim feeling, Sarkozy said any law should avoid stigmatising any sections of society.

In a rebuke to figures in his rightwing UMP party who are pushing for a total ban on the burka or niqab in public in the near future, he said lawmakers should wait for the results of a six-month parliamentary inquiry before acting further.

Once the panel's recommendations were known, Sarkozy said, parliament should pass a non-binding but "unambiguous" resolution making clear the full veil's incompatibility with French values.

Sarkozy did not go into detail about what kind of legislation might eventually be passed, insisting that parliament give full attention to it. The committee he set up last summer to investigate the issue, headed by communist MP André Gerin, is expected to advocate a more moderate ban on the full veil, possibly in certain realms of the state such as post offices and town halls. It will publish its results later this month, weeks before France's regional elections.

"As president I believe it would be wise to wait for its consultations and reflections to come to fruition before deciding definitively," said Sarkozy.

The parliamentary head of his party, Jean-François Copé, has tried to grab the limelight with a controversial bill that would fine anyone found covering their face in public €750 (£670).

Last night Sarkozy, who has been accused of unleashing a storm of hostile sentiment towards France's six million Muslims through a "great debate" on national identity, endeavoured to reassure his critics that his dislike of the burka was motivated by love of his nation's principles rather than racism.

"The full veil is not welcome in France because it runs contrary to our values and contrary to the idea we have of a woman's dignity," he said, while cautioning against an extreme move that would further alienate a section of society.

"Let us undertake not to give opponents of democracy, dignity and sexual equality the chance for a victory which would put our society in a very difficult situation," he said, adding it was "essential that no one felt stigmatised".

It is thought that only about 2,000 women in France wear the full veil. Although making clear its opposition to the burka itself, the Socialist party came out last week against a ban, saying it would be counter-productive and opportunistic.