France

Secularism vs Communalism: Learning from the Ban on Full Face Covering Veil in France

Publication Date: 
April, 2011


Three days after the enforcement of the French law that prohibits full face covering, and after the first women law breakers have been fined, international media focus on ’protesting Muslims’, while the voices of the vast majority of presumed Muslims in France are ignored.

One has to raise issue with the absence of proper coverage by English language international media regarding the public stands taken by French citizens of migrant Muslim descent.

The Islamic Veil across Europe

Publication Date: 
September 22, 2011
Source: 
BBC
French girls in headscarves protesting in Strasbourg 1 Sep '04. Headscarves are allowed at French universities, but not schools.


Countries across Europe have wrestled with the issue of the Muslim veil - in various forms such as the body-covering burka and , which covers the face apart from the eyes.

The debate takes in religious freedom, female equality, secular traditions and even fears of terrorism.

The veil issue is part of a wider debate about multiculturalism in Europe, as many politicians argue that there needs to be a greater effort to assimilate ethnic and religious minorities.

France: With the burqa ban women are 'effectively under house arrest'

Publication Date: 
September 19, 2011
Source: 
The Guardian
Hind Ahmas, one of 2 French women facing a fine for wearing the niqab in a town near Paris. Photo: Magali Delporte/the Guardian


Since France introduced its burqa ban in April there have been violent attacks on women wearing the niqab and, this week, the first fines could be handed down. But a legal challenge to this hard line may yet expose the French state as a laughing stock.

Hind Ahmas walks into a brasserie in the north Paris suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois. Jaws drop, shoulders tighten and a look of disgust ripples across the faces of haggard men sipping coffee at the bar.

Outrage as 'Obedient Wives Club' spreads across south-east Asia

Publication Date: 
July 6, 2011
Source: 
The Guardian
Malaysian Muslim Ishak Md Nor and his two wives, Aishah Abdul Ghafar, left, and Afiratul Abidah Mohd Hanan, members of the 'OWC'


A women's group that aims to teach Muslim wives how to "keep their spouses happy in the bedroom" is taking root in south-east Asia, prompting outrage from Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

The Obedient Wives Club (OWC), which has chapters in Malaysia, Indonesia and and intends to open in London and Paris later this year, says it intends to curb various social problems, including prostitution and gambling, by showing Muslim wives how to "be submissive and keep their spouses happy in the bedroom". This, in turn, would lead to more harmonious marriages and societies, it says.

France: Full-face veils outlawed as France spells out controversial niqab ban

Publication Date: 
March 3, 2011
Source: 
The Guardian
A woman in a niqab walks with a child in the Tuileries, in Paris, France. Photograph: Horacio Villalobos/EPA


From Saudi tourists window-shopping on the Champs-Élysées to Muslim women in a departure lounge at Charles de Gaulle airport or the few young French converts on suburban estates, any woman who steps outside in France wearing a veil that covers her face will be breaking the law from next month.

'Carla Bruni is a prostitute', says Iranian newspaper

Publication Date: 
August 30, 2010
Source: 
BBC News
Photo Credit: BBC

 

An Iranian newspaper has called Carla Bruni, France's first lady, a "prostitute" after she attacked Iran's plan to stone a woman to death.

UK: Damian Green says burka ban would be 'un-British'

Publication Date: 
July 18, 2010
Source: 
BBC
Last week French MPs voted to ban wearing the Islamic full veil in public.


Banning the wearing of the Islamic full veil in public would be "un-British", the immigration minister has said.

Damian Green told the Sunday Telegraph trying to pass such a law would be at odds with the UK's "tolerant and mutually respectful society".

It comes after Tory MP Philip Hollobone introduced a private members' bill which would make it illegal for people to cover their faces in public.

France votes to ban full-face veils

Publication Date: 
July 13, 2010
Source: 
Amnesty International
Amnesty International

Amnesty International has condemned an overwhelming vote by the lower house of the French parliament to ban the wearing of full-face veils in public.

Three hundred and thirty six parliamentarians voted for the measure on Tuesday, with only one opposing it.

"A complete ban on the covering of the face would violate the rights to freedom of expression and religion of those women who wear the burqa or the niqab as an expression of their identity or beliefs," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's expert on discrimination in Europe.

The law, which must still be approved by the French Senate, prohibits the wearing anywhere in public of any form of clothing intended to conceal one's face.

France moves closer to banning full Muslim veil

(Photo: Christophe Ena / AP)

Faiza Silmi, a 32-year-old Moroccan, walks in a Le Mesnil-Saint-Denis, France, on Tuesday. Silmi was refused French citizenship for what authorities said was her failure to assimilate into French culture.

Europe & Turkey - The Burqa - Several Countries Prohibit or Regulate

The burqa is usually prohibited by local ordinances on behalf of the need to see the faces.