BELGIUM: Committee approves a proposed law criminalising the wearing of clothes that hide identity, including burqas and niqabs

Record ID: 730840

  • Title: BELGIUM: Committee approves a proposed law criminalising the wearing of clothes that hide identity, including burqas and niqabs
  • Date: 1st April 2010
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (MARCH 31, 2010) (REUTERS) VEILED / (WITH HEADSCARF) WOMAN ( EATING WAFFLE IN THE STREET
  • Embargoed: 16th April 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVAWAPAHTKQAMFD7ASE08B4S1F8
  • Story Text: An all-party committee of Belgian lawmakers unanimously approved a proposed law on Wednesday (March 31) that would criminalise the wearing of clothing that covers all or part of the face, such as Muslim facial veils.
    The lower house of parliament will vote on the bill on April 22 and it could enter into law in June or July, possibly making Belgium the first country to enforce such a ban.
    Those who proposed the law, argue an inability to identify people who have hidden their faces presents a security risk and that the veil, known sometimes as a niqab or burqa, is a "walking prison" for women.
    Daniel Bacquelaine, the bill's chief promoter, said Belgium did not wish to follow the "bad examples" of Britain and the Netherlands, with separate communities, favouring instead efforts to integrate society.
    ''I think the burqa or the niqab are not religious signs. Nothing in Islam, in the Koran or in the sunnah dictate this kind of clothing. So for me it's a political and ideological sign. It is a symbol of the submission of a woman to a man. It's a political sign, a strategic, political sign with regard to a certain re-Islamisation of Muslims in Europe. So I really think this will lead us to a community-based model instead of the integration model we are advocating, where everyone can live freely no matter what his religious, political or ethnic origins are," he said.
    Bacquelaine added that the ban might also be used against potentially violent demonstrators who covered their faces.
    "I do think this law will also apply to demonstrations when for example some people are demonstrating wearing full helmets, they will be subject to this law," he said.
    He estimated that a few hundred women in Belgium wore facial veils, adding that it was a rising trend.
    In neighbouring France, some lawmakers have also called for full Islamic veils to be banned, although a top advisory board said on Tuesday (March 30) that this would carry serious constitutional risks.
    Bacquelaine said other European countries would eventually have to follow Belgium's example and debate the issue.
    ''Yes, I think that Belgium will be the pioneer. I think France could have become the first country but maybe the debate about national identity prevented the vote of a law on burqas. I think this problem will spread and every parliament will have to decide where they stand on this issue," he said.
    On the streets of Brussels, many within the Muslim community said they did not agree with the new law.
    ''For me, women do whatever they choose to do. If they feel good when wearing the niqab, then why not?'' said one woman. ''I am neither a niqab nor a burqa (wearer) but I am against (the law)," said another.
    The bill received unanimous backing in parliament's home affairs committee. It could lead to fines of 15-25 euros ($20.14-$33.57) and imprisonment for up to seven days.
    Bacquelaine said that local mayors could suspend the ban during festivities such as Carnival when people traditionally wear costumes, including masks.
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