Belgian parliament votes to ban burqas in public

[Al-khiyal]

Belgium full face veil ban would breach international law

Amnesty International urges the Belgian Parliament not to pass a draft law which would prohibit the wearing of full face veils anywhere in public as the country's Chamber of Deputies prepares to vote on the issue on 22 April 2010. "A general ban on the wearing of full face veils would violate the rights to freedom of expression and religion of those women who choose to express their identity or beliefs in this way," said Claudio Cordone, Amnesty International's Interim Secretary General. "At the same time the Belgian authorities must make sure that all women who chose to wear the full veil do so without coercion, harassment and discrimination." Those who violate the law will be either fined between 15 and 25 Euro or imprisoned between one and seven days, or both. People wearing masks because of the nature of their work or because they take part in festivals are exempted. Over the last few months there has been growing public debate in Europe on the wearing of full face veils, such as the burqa and the niqab, by Muslim women. Yesterday, the French government announced that it would shortly be putting a similar draft law before Parliament.

International human rights law guarantees the right to freedom of expression and freedom to manifest their religion or beliefs; these freedoms extend to the way in which people choose to dress. States must therefore not impose generally applicable requirements that women dress or do not dress in a certain way, and they must protect women from the imposition of such requirements by third parties, including families and communities. "Women must not be compelled to wear a headscarf or veil, either by the state or by individuals; and it is wrong for them to be prohibited by law from wearing it," Claudio Cordone said. "However, some clearly defined restrictions on the wearing of full face veils for the purposes of public safety will be legitimate. For example, it will be perfectly legitimate for women to be asked to lift their veils for identity checks." Amnesty International does not believe that a general ban on the wearing of full face veils in public is necessary or proportionate for any legitimate objective.

[Al-khiyal]

Vote that would have seen Belgium become first to ban the burka scuppered at last minute as government collapses

April 22, 2010 -- Belgium's five-month-old government collapsed today, scuppering a controversial vote to ban the burka in the country. Prime Minister Yves Leterme's government fell after the Flemish liberal party pulled out of his coalition. Leterme, 49, called an emergency meeting of his cabinet early today afternoon to inform ministers that his second term in office was at an end, and left for the royal palace to tender his government's resignation to King Albert.

The collapse prevented MPs from voting on a proposed law would mean women could be jailed for up to seven days for hiding their faces. The legislation - which has widespread support among MPs - would have meant burkas, niqabs and other Islamic full face veils would be outlawed from public places.

The vote had been set to come a day after French president Nicolas Sarkozy said France would also vote on a ban. His spokesman Luc Chatel said MPs would debate the proposal in mid-May, and if passed the garb could be outlawed in France by June.

In Belgium, the draft law had the backing of all five parties in the nation's coalition government - until it fell apart today. Without the backing of the centre-right Open VLD, the remaining four parties in government still have 76 of the 150 seats in the lower house of parliament but it would be hard to govern with such a slim majority.

Open VLD said it had lost confidence in the government because of its failure to resolve a dispute between French- and Dutch-speaking parties over electoral boundaries around the capital, Brussels. Economists have expressed concern that political paralysis would harm the prospects of reducing Belgium's budget deficit, which the government has forecast will be 4.8 per cent of gross domestic product in 2010.

Leterme became prime minister for a second time last November when Herman Van Rompuy left the post to become president of the European Union. Even at the start of his second term political and economic analysts had warned that it could prove as unstable as his first nine months in power in 2008, when Belgium lurched from one crisis to another.

Belgium, home to European Union institutions and the NATO military alliance, can ill afford to let domestic problems drag on as in July it takes over the six-month EU presidency, an organisational role held by each member state in turn.

The future of the controversial burkha ban is now in doubt - but support for it among MPs remained widespread. Centre-right MP Daniel Bacquelaine said: 'The notion of recognising people in the street is essential to maintain public order. It's also a question of human dignity. The full face veil turns a woman into a walking prison, and we have widespread cross-party support to have this item outlawed.' Leen Dierick, of the Belgian parliament's interior affairs committee, said: 'There is all-party public support for this. The point is not outlawing religious freedom, but public security and the need to show one's face in public.' Belgian daily Le Soir said under the proposed law, women would be fined £110 for the first offence of wearing a burka. But if they refused to pay or were caught a second time, they would be jailed for a week.

There is also widespread support for a ban on burquas and niqabs in the Netherlands. In Switzerland, the construction of minarets was recently banned. In France, immigration minister Eric Besson has branded the garment a 'walking coffin'. President Sarkozy said last year described burkas as a 'sign of debasement, adding: 'They make women prisoners and deprive them of their identity.'

[Al-khiyal]

Belgian parliament votes to ban burqas in public

Brussels, April 29, 2010 -- The Belgian parliament was preparing a late-evening vote Thursday on a bill to ban Muslim women from wearing the burqa in public in what became the first such ban legislated in Europe. The vote was to have been held last week, but was postponed amid the government coalition crisis. The Belgian news agency Belga, reporting on the vote, pointed out that a ban would not take effect until the upper chamber, the Senate, also approved the bill. It was unknown when the Senate might put the bill on its agenda. The bill drafted by a parliamentary committee foresees punishment of 25 euros (33 dollars) fine or up to 7 days in jail. The ban makes Belgium the first country in Europe to prohibit women from wearing the full-body garment in public. The French government is also preparing legislation for a ban on burqas.

[Al-khiyal]

Belgian parliament votes to ban wearing of veil

April 29, 2010 (Reuters) -- The Belgian lower house of parliament on Thursday approved a draft law to ban wearing the full Islamic face veil in public, a move that could make Belgium the first country to make the practice a criminal offence. The measure was overwhelmingly backed by 136 lawmakers with just two abstentions. The bill, which would ban all clothing that covers or partially covers the face, could become law in the coming months as the upper house, or Senate, is not expected to block it. However, the collapse of the government last week and the prospect of an imminent election could cause a delay because parliament would have to be dissolved. France, which has the largest Muslim population in Europe, is also looking toward a ban on wearing veils in public, with the government set to examine a draft bill in May. It could also become law within a few months. Belgium's French-speaking liberals, who proposed the veil law, argued that an inability to identify people who have hidden their faces presents a security risk and that the veil was a "walking prison" for women. Wearing the facial veil, known as the niqab and the body-length outer garment, or burqa, widely worn in Afghanistan, could lead to lead to fines of 15-25 euros (about $20 to $33) and imprisonment for up to seven days. The bill's chief promoter, Daniel Bacquelaine, said local mayors could suspend the ban during festivities such as Carnival when people traditionally wear costumes, including masks. The law could also be used against potentially violent demonstrators who covered their faces. Bacquelaine estimated that a few hundred women in Belgium wore facial veils and said it was a rising trend.

[Al-khiyal]

Les députés belges interdisent le port du voile intégral

Jeudi 29 Avril 2010 -- La Belgique, déchirée entre Flamands et francophones, serre les rangs contre la burqa. Dans un rare moment d'unanimité, la Chambre des représentants a voté jeudi soir l'interdiction totale du voile islamique intégral dans l'espace public, faisant du royaume le premier État européen à légiférer sur le sujet. La loi doit encore être adoptée par le Sénat. L'image du pays est peut-être écornée mais «on peut être fier d'être belge aujourd'hui, a affirmé l'un des initiateurs de la loi, le député réformateur Denis Ducarme. Nous espérons être rapidement suivis par les Français, les Suisses, les Italiens et les Néerlandais». Le texte, qui devait être voté au pied levé en début de soirée, a survécu contre toute attente à la démission du gouvernement Leterme.

Le projet prévoit de punir les individus qui « se présenteront dans l'espace public le visage masqué ou dissimulé, en tout ou en partie, par un vêtement de manière telle qu'ils ne soient plus identifiables ». Ce sont clairement les femmes portant le niqab ou la burqa qui sont visées. Elles ne pourront plus faire leurs achats, fréquenter les services publics, entrer dans un parc ou même arpenter la rue couvertes de pied en cap sans risquer une amende ou une peine d'un à sept jours de prison, voire des deux. Pour les élus belges, le but est avant tout de défendre «un socle de valeurs universelles» et notamment l'égalité homme-femme, a fait valoir le chef libéral Daniel Bacquelaine. «C'est par le visage que se manifeste l'humanité», a-t-il dit, citant le philosophe français Emmanuel Levinas. Pour le centriste Georges Dallemagne, qui reprenait des arguments avancés à Paris par Élisabeth Badinter, «une personne qui cache son visage s'exclut du champ social». Le vote a une portée symbolique. Le port du voile intégral est marginal en Belgique et ne concerne que quelques centaines de femmes. C'est surtout le port du foulard à l'école qui cristallise les tensions. Une enseignante de Charleroi vient d'être déboutée d'un recours en urgence qu'elle avait introduit contre sa commune pour faire cours couverte d'un foulard.

Paternité de l'extrême droite

Dans un pays qui compte quelque 400 000 musulmans - sur 10,5 millions d'habitants - le message politique ne passera pas inaperçu. L'extrême droite flamande, qui revendique la paternité du projet depuis 2004, salue ainsi «un premier pas dans la lutte contre l'islamisation». En Europe, «il faut aller encore plus loin», ajoute le député Filip De Man. Le texte viendra relayer à l'étage fédéral des interdictions réglementaires déjà appliquées par de nombreuses communes du royaume. Il s'agit d'éviter la formation de ghettos dans les municipalités qui n'y ont encore pas eu recours. L'objectif est aussi de conforter par une décision d'ordre général des arrêtés municipaux parfois contestés devant le Conseil de l'Europe.

[Serenity]

Shukran for these news updates.

I just can't believe what is going on right now. Tense times for muslims living europe especially.

Obviously there is an underlying agenda here by the secular governments of France and Belgium. The truth about france is that not only do they have the largest muslim population in europe made up of immigrants but there is a growing number of french reverts Alhamdulilah. That is the problem, so in order to marginalise muslims, picking on the minority fully veiled women is a perfect way to do that. Muslims are made to feel that they should not be 'extreme'.

My dad was telling me that many many years ago there was a law in france that banned the building of mosques, but Alhamdulilah there is something like 3000 mosques or more in france now, most of the imams are indigineous french reverts. lol so this ban could turn on itself Inshallah.

Maybe we will see more Niqabi sisters Inshallah.

This can be cross-referenced with the case of turkey and the whole headscarf ban, now we see lots of women in headscarves.

What scares those who try to suppress Islam is muslims waking up and rediscovering their faith. This is happening now, we can see a revival happening everywhere. Slowly but surely it is inevitable that a Khilafah will be established. It is prophesised.

[Al-khiyal]