Dutch Consider Ban on
Burqas in Public
By GREGORY CROUCH,
NYTimes on the Web, November 18, 2006
NIJMEGEN, the Netherlands,
Nov. 17 — Five days before a national election here, the center-right government
announced Friday that it planned to introduce legislation to ban burqas and
similar garments in public places, saying the full-body garb worn by a small
number of Muslim women in the Netherlands posed a grave security threat.
The Netherlands has been considering such a move for months, in reaction to the
burqa and other articles of clothing that hide the wearer’s face. The
government has raised the fear that a terrorist might wear such a garment to
move beyond security checks and carry out an attack.
The Dutch discussion is part of a European debate about how far governments can
go in legislating what people — specifically Muslim women and girls — can and
cannot wear.
Last month, Britain’s former foreign secretary, Jack Straw, raised a commotion
when he urged Muslim women to remove full facial veils when talking to him,
saying the veil was “such a visible statement of separation and of difference”
that it jeopardized British social harmony. Prime Minister Tony Blair
subsequently backed Mr. Straw.
The fate of the Dutch proposal is uncertain, and critics accused the government
of introducing it as a campaign ploy in a country that is still reeling from the
2004 murder of a filmmaker, Theo van Gogh, by a Muslim fundamentalist.
But if it should pass in Parliament, women would be prohibited from wearing
burqas in a variety of public settings, including schools, trains, courts and
even on the street.
“The cabinet finds it undesirable that face-covering clothing — including the
burqa — is worn in public places for reasons of public order, security and
protection of citizens,” the immigration minister, Rita Verdonk, said Friday.
About a million Muslims live in the Netherlands, about 6 percent of the
population, and only 50 to 100 women regularly wear a burqa here, Muslim groups
say, making them a rare sight. In light of that, some Muslims say they see
the entire burqa issue as a referendum on their very existence here, a
suggestion that government officials deny.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Yasar Kalkan, a Muslim auto mechanic in Leidschendam.
“When you go out on the street, how many burqas do you see? None,” he
said, adding that Ms. Verdonk “should find something better to do with her
time.”
Ms. Verdonk and others noted that the law would extend beyond religious garments
to include head-size helmets with full-length visors and any other article that
completely covers the wearer’s head and face.
“We want to see whom we are talking to,” Ms. Verdonk said last week.
The Dutch are not alone among European countries in seeking to restrict some
forms of Muslim dress.
France banned from its schools the hijab, the head scarf worn by many Muslim
girls and women, along with other conspicuous religious symbols. Britain’s
highest court ruled this year that a secondary school was within its rights to
bar a female student from wearing a jilbab, a loose, ankle-length gown, instead
of the regular school uniform.
Prime Minister Romano Prodi of Italy has also joined the debate. “You
can’t cover your face, you must be seen,” Mr. Prodi said last month. “This
is common sense, I think. It is important for our society.”
Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican’s Council for Justice and Peace,
said, regarding the veil, that immigrants of other religions “must respect the
traditions, symbols, culture and religion of the countries they move to.”
Ms. Verdonk said she learned only this week that the Dutch cabinet could pursue
a burqa ban after getting the go-ahead from legal experts. Those consulted
by the government do not believe that such a ban would violate Dutch or European
Union laws regarding religious freedom.
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