http://thestar.com.my/services/printerfriendly.asp?file=/2006/11/18/worldupdates/2006-11-18T011443Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-276730-1.asp&sec=worldupdates
November 18, 2006
Dutch to ban wearing of Muslim burqa in public
By Alexandra Hudson
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch government agreed on Friday a total ban on the
wearing of burqas and other Muslim face veils in public, justifying the move on
security grounds.
Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk will now draw up legislation which will
result in the Netherlands, once one of Europe's most easy-going nations,
imposing some of the continent's toughest laws against concealing the face.
Burqas on display as part of a headscarf exhibition in Amsterdam in this
February 28, 2006 file photo. The Dutch government agreed on Friday a total ban
on the wearing of burqas and other Muslim face veils in public, justifying the
move on security grounds. (REUTERS/Paul Vreeker)
"The cabinet finds it undesirable that garments covering the face -- including
the burqa -- should be worn in public in view of public order, (and) the
security and protection of fellow citizens," the Dutch Justice Ministry said in
a statement.
The debate on face veils and whether they stymie Muslim integration has
gathered momentum across Europe.
The Netherlands would be the first European state to impose a countrywide ban
on Islamic face coverings, though other countries have already outlawed them in
specific places.
The move by the centre-right government comes just five days before a general
election. The campaign has focused so far on issues like the economy rather
than immigration because most mainstream parties have hardened their stances in
recent years.
Last December Dutch lawmakers voted in favour of a proposal by far-right
politician Geert Wilders to outlaw face-coverings and asked Verdonk to examine
the feasibility of such a ban.
Because veils were worn for religious reasons, she had feared new legislation
could come into conflict with religious freedom laws. But she said on Friday
this was not the case.
MUSLIM HEADSCARF
Existing legislation already limits the wearing of burqas and other total
coverings on public transport or in schools.
France has banned the Muslim headscarf and other religious garb from state
schools while discussion in Britain centres on limiting the full facial veil,
or niqab.
Italy has a decades-old law against covering the face in public as an
anti-terrorism measure. Some politicians have called for this rule to be
enforced against veiled Muslim women.
The Muslim community estimates that only about 50 women in the Netherlands wear
the head-to-toe burqa or the niqab, a face veil that conceals everything but
the eyes.
Dutch Muslim groups have complained a burqa ban would make the country's 1
million Muslims feel more victimised and alienated, regardless of whether they
approve of burqas or not.
"This will just lead to more girls saying 'hey I'm also going to wear a burqa
as a protest'," Naima Azough, a member of parliament from the opposition Green
Left, told an election campaign meeting for fellow members of the Moroccan
community.
Job Cohen, the Labour mayor of Amsterdam, said he opposed burqas in schools and
public buildings, and said women wearing one who failed to get a job should not
expect welfare benefits.
"From the perspective of integration and communication, it is obviously very
bad because you can't see each other so the fewer the better," he told foreign
journalists.
"But actually hardly anybody wears one ... The fuss is much bigger than the
number of people concerned."
Since the murder of anti-immigration maverick Pim Fortuyn in 2002, the Dutch
have lost a reputation for tolerance, pushing through some of Europe's toughest
entry and integration laws.
Social and religious tensions have escalated in the last few years, exacerbated
by the murder of film director and Islam critic Theo van Gogh by a
Dutch-Moroccan militant in 2004.
(Additional reporting by Emma Thomasson)
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