France Inches Closer to Veil (Hijab) Ban

Local Editor

French legislators have passed a resolution asserting that face-covering Muslim veils oppose to principles of liberty, equality and fraternity on which France was founded.

The non-binding resolution which passed 434 to 0 on Tuesday, lays the groundwork for a planned law forbidding face-covering veils in public, including streets.

Legislators of the 577-seat house, who opposed the resolution, abstained from voting.
The bill calling for the ban goes before parliament in July and a draft text is to be reviewed by the cabinet on May 19.

Tuesday's resolution, sponsored by the conservative party led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, had been widely expected to win approval in the National Assembly with opposition Socialists backing it, despite concerns about the wording of an eventual law.

Like France, its neighbor Belgium is also planning a similar veil ban.

Criticism

Sharp criticism has accompanied France's nearly year-long debate on banning face veils, with those opposed saying that the entire process has stigmatized the nation's estimated 5 million Muslims, which represents the largest Muslim population in Western Europe.

They also say it is a political ploy because only an estimated 1,900 women wear face-covering veils.

Michele Alliot-Marie, the justice minister who is writing the draft law, said it is the veil that "stigmatizes Islam" and "harms the liberty of women on whom it is imposed".

In 2004, and after a bitter debate, France banned Muslim headscarves and other "ostentatious" religious symbols in classrooms and study halls.

The road from a resolution to a bill then a law fully banning face-covering veils is likely to be rocky and hard.

Sarkozy's government has been warned by the Council of State, the nation's highest administrative body, that such legislation may not pass constitutional muster in France or in European forums.

Earlier on Tuesday, a Council of Europe commission opposed a blanket ban on face coverings, saying such a ban would rob women of their freedom of expression and could violate their religious freedoms.

The Strasbourg-based commission also urged Switzerland to end its ban on the construction of mosque minarets as soon as possible.

The Council of Europe, a 47-nation human rights institution, is to discuss the veil issue next month, where its rulings are binding on all Council of Europe member states.