FACTBOX: Policies on Muslim scarves and veils in Europe

[Ms DD]

FACTBOX: Policies on Muslim scarves and veils in Europe

Sat Feb 9, 2008 8:41am EST Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page[-] Text [+]

 

powered by Sphere(Reuters) - The wearing of Muslim face veils and headscarves in schools and at work is a sensitive topic across Europe. Here is a summary of policy in some key countries:

 

TURKEY

 

Mainly Muslim but secular Turkey has banned Islamic head-dress in universities and public offices. But parliament on Saturday resoundingly approved constitutional changes aimed at lifting a ban on female students wearing the Muslim headscarf in universities, the assembly's speaker said.

 

The Islamist-rooted ruling AK Party and a key opposition party agreed to cooperate to lift the ban, but have faced stiff resistance from the powerful secular elite which includes judges, army generals and university rectors.

 

Secularists see the garment as a threat to the country's strict separation of state and religion. Opinion polls show a majority of Turks back an easing of the ban in a country where about two-thirds of all women cover their heads.

 

Face coverings such as the Afghan-style burqa or Middle Eastern-style niqab are relatively rare in secular Turkey, which traditionally follows a moderate brand of Sunni Islam and where segregation of the sexes is very much the exception, not the rule.

 

NETHERLANDS

 

The Dutch government is set to retreat from a plan for a general ban on Muslim face veils but stop women wearing them in schools and government offices, media reported on Wednesday.

 

The cabinet has decided against a broad ban on the burqa or niqab in public as that would violate the principle of freedom of religion, the reports said.

 

The Muslim community says only about 50 women wear the head-to-toe burqa or the niqab, a face veil that conceals everything but the eyes. They said a general ban would heighten alienation among the country's about 1 million Muslims.

 

The previous centre-right Dutch government proposed a complete ban on face-veils in public, citing security concerns, but the centrist government that took power last year has taken a more conciliatory line on immigration.

 

FRANCE

 

France, with Europe's largest Muslim minority, banned headscarves from its state primary and secondary schools in 2004 under a law against conspicuous religious symbols that also included Jewish kippas and large Christian crosses. The government argued that wearing religious garb in state schools violated the legal separation of church and state. Supporters of the law also argued that impressionable young girls were forced to wear headscarves and the ban would help them decide for themselves if they wanted to cover their hair.

 

Women at university can wear headscarves, since they are adults. Teachers and other civil servants may not wear any religious symbols at work at all.

 

There were protests and warnings of unrest before the anti- headscarf law was passed, but it went into effect smoothly with very few girls being expelled from school for refusing to take off their headscarves.

 

BRITAIN

 

Britain has no official policy on headscarves or veils, but the issue has been hotly disputed. Schools are allowed to set their own dress codes, which have sometimes been challenged by girls unhappy with the rules.

 

Solicitors and legal advisers have been told they can wear headscarves in court providing they do not interfere with proceedings.

 

Most observers agree more and more British Muslim woman are wearing veils or headscarves.

 

In 2006, British politician Jack Straw caused controversy by saying he would rather Muslim women did not wear veils and that he asked those who visited him in his constituency office to remove them.

 

GERMANY

 

Policy on face veils and headscarves is a matter for individual states in Germany, not the federal government. The Interior Ministry says there are no plans for any federal laws.

 

Seven of Germany's 16 states have banned teachers in state schools from wearing Islamic headscarves, a policy which angers Muslim groups who say it discriminates against them.

 

Hesse's conservative premier Roland Koch -- who is fighting for reelection -- called for a ban on pupils wearing a burqa in schools a few weeks ago. But his idea backfired when he discovered the state had no pupils who wore a burqa.

 

The majority of Germany's roughly 3.2 million Muslims are of Turkish origin.

 

(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Editing by Jon Boyle)

 

 

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[Jacaylbaro]

Interesting ,,,,,,,,

[Ms DD]

It would be interesting to investigate the stand of muslim countries. I remember back in Somalia where some aunties used to be refused to cover their head, even with illyar.

[Jacaylbaro]

I wouldn't say we talk about Somalia/Somaliland now coz the situation is totally different. I remember in the 80s where the government would suspend any student who wear scarves or cover their head from the schools.

 

it is interesting now that the situation is vice-versa where the uncovered girls would be suspended from the schools.

 

What is more interesting is the situation in Muqdisho now where the Xabashis and their Co. were said to be banning the veils in public. Some complained about violence against the Hijabi women.