Muslim women could be banned from wearing face-covering veils and burqas

A French parliamentary report today recommended a partial ban upon women wearing Islamic face veils. The report, nearly 200 pages long, proposes a ban in schools, hospitals, government offices and on public transport. It also recommends that any person showing visible signs of “radical religious practice” should be denied residence cards and citizenship.

The commission’s reasoning behind the ban is that requiring women to cover their faces is against the French principles of secularism and equality. “The wearing of the full veil is a challenge to our Republic [and] is unacceptable” says the report. Presenting the conclusions to Parliament, speaker Bernard Accoyer said the face veil “is the symbol of the repression of women and… of extremist fundamentalism.”

The report is expected to be followed by the drafting of a bill and a parliamentary debate. There are concerns that an outright ban would be difficult to police and could make France, home to five million Muslims, a target of extremist terrorism. The opposition Socialists have denounced the ban, saying that whilst “the burqa is a prison for women… the ad hoc law would not have the anticipated effect.”

The commission’s results come as no surprise to the majority of commentators. In June 2009, President Sarkozy spoke out strongly against the veil, saying “we cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity.” His comments were followed in August by those of Urban Regeneration Minister Fadela Amara, who told the UK’s Financial Times that that she was in favour of “the burqa not existing in my country.” Yesterday, the President of the commission, André Gerin, said that “the ban on the burka will be absolute.”

Female Muslim dress code has been a hot topic in France since conspicuous religious symbols – including head coverings and full length burqas – were successfully banned in schools in 2004. Opinion polls suggest that the majority of the French public are in favour of the ban. The country will now wait to see if the commission’s proposals will become law. The head of Sarkozy’s right-wing UMP party has already presented a bill in parliament supporting a full ban on grounds of security.