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2010-07-07 Europe
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French parliament to vote on full face veil ban
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A French bill to ban full-face veils worn by some Muslim women in public will go to parliament on Tuesday, bringing closer a measure which critics argue is hard to enforce and may be unconstitutional.
Supporters of a ban on full-face veils in France, home to the European Union's largest Muslim minority, argue that wearing garments which hide women's faces violates the republican ideals of secularism and gender equality.
Opponents say only a tiny minority of Muslim women wear the full veil, known as a niqab or burqa, and that the legislation is a step towards tighter restraints on individual freedom. France already bans Muslim headscarves and other religious symbols from schools.
Violating the constitution
"We were opposed to the veil even before the start of the debate... and we think that a general ban is absolutely not the solution, " Mohammed Moussaoui, President of the French Muslim Councilsaid.
Most voters back a ban, polls have shown, but legal experts warn it could violate the constitution.
"It's going to increase feelings of being ostracized in part of the Muslim community, even parts where women don't wear the niqab," said Jean Bauberot, sociologist at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes at Paris' Sorbonne University.
The Council of State, the top administrative court which advises the government on the preparation of new laws, said in March a ban could be unlawful.
France's Socialist opposition decided Tuesday to boycott a vote on a bill outlawing the full-face Islamic veil in protest at the sweeping ban that will apply to all public places.
Socialist Party leader Martine Aubry told deputies at a meeting that while they should not vote against the bill, they should not take part in a vote scheduled for July 13, a Socialist party official told AFP.
"We are against the burqa but we believe that the means chosen to outlaw it are not good," said the party official.
Fines and jail term
The proposed law would impose fines of 150 ($190 ) on those caught wearing the veil and up to 30,000 and a one-year jail term to men who force their wives or daughters to cover their faces.
President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party and its right-wing allies hold a strong majority in parliament and the bill could easily pass without support from the opposition Socialists.
But the government has made a point of seeking strong bi-partisan support for the legislation.
Debate on the burqa has raged in France for a year and Sarkozy has described the Muslim face coverings as degrading to women.
His critics however see the bill as a political ploy to pander to far-right voters by taking aim at a tiny minority of women who wear the full veil.
Fewer than 2,000 women wear the full-face veil in France, according to the interior ministry.
Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, who will present the bill at the National Assembly later Tuesday, insisted the law was about upholding French values of secularism, gender equality and promoting integration.
"The law is not about the veil, but about deliberately covering the face in any way," she was quoted as saying by the daily Liberation.
"It is not a question of religion," she said. "The republic lives with its face uncovered."
The National Assembly lower house is set to hold a vote on July 13 following debate this week and the bill is expected to then go to the Senate in September.
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Posted by Fred 2010-07-07 00:00||
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Posted by JosephMendiola 2010-07-07 22:15||
2010-07-07 22:15||
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