Swiss Burqa Ban

**Saint Willy** · 08-03-2021, 05:03 AM

Switzerland to ban wearing of burqa and niqab in public places

Muslim groups criticise move, which they say will further stigmatise and marginalise their community

People protest against Switzerland’s ban on wearing a full face veil in public plans, which has been approved in a national referendum. Photograph: Jean-Christophe Bott/EPA

Switzerland will follow France, Belgium and Austria after narrowly voting in a referendum to ban women from wearing the burqa or niqab in public spaces.
Just over 51% of Swiss voters cast their ballots in favour of the initiative to ban people from covering their face completely on the street, in shops and restaurants.
Full facial veils will still be allowed to be worn inside places of prayer and for “native customs”, such as carnival.
Face coverings worn for health and safety reasons are also exempt from the ban, meaning face masks worn because of the Covid-19 pandemic will not be affected by the new law.
Switzerland’s parliament and the seven-member executive council that constitutes the country’s federal government opposed the referendum proposal. They argued that full facial veils represented a “fringe phenomenon”, and instead proposed an initiative that would force people to lift their facial coverings when asked to confirm their identity to officials.
Muslim groups have criticised the ban. “This is clearly an attack against the Muslim community in Switzerland. What is aimed here is to stigmatise and marginalise Muslims even more,” said Ines Al Shikh, a member of Les Foulards Violets, a Muslim feminist collective.
“This symbolic policy is directed against female and male Muslims,” said the Swiss Federation of Islamic Umbrella Organisations in a statement. “But it also damages the whole of Switzerland, which has undermined its own values by accepting the initiative.”
An alliance of hoteliers and tourism professionals from the Berne and Geneva regions also opposed the ban on the basis that it would reduce the number of visitors from Arab countries.
“A burqa ban would damage our reputation as an open and tolerant tourism destination,” said Nicole Brändle Schlegel of the HotellerieSuisse umbrella organisation.
Supporters of the ban argue that it also intended to stop violent street protesters and football hooligans wearing masks, and that the referendum text does not explicitly mention Islam or the words “niqab” or “burqa”.
Their campaign, however, framed the referendum as a verdict on the role of Islam in public life.
The initiative behind the referendum was launched in 2016 by the Egerkingen Committee, an association that also successfully pushed for a vote to ban the building of new minarets in 2009, and which has links to the populist rightwing Swiss People’s party.
Campaign ads it paid for showed a woman wearing a niqab and sunglasses alongside the slogan: “Stop extremism! Yes to the veil ban.”
A video on the Swiss government’s website explaining the arguments in favour of a ban proposed that “religious veils like the burqa or the niqab are a symbol of the oppression of women and aren’t suitable to our society”.
The Ticino and St Gallen cantons already have local bans on face coverings. Three other cantons rejected such proposals. Face coverings at protests and sport events are already banned in 15 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons.
A recent study by the University of Lucerne put the number of women in Switzerland who wear a niqab at 21 to 37, and found no evidence at all of women wearing the burqa, which women were forced to wear in Afghanistan under the Taliban.
In Ticino, where a ban on full facial veils was introduced in 2016, it has since led to around 30 police interventions.
Muslims make up around 5% of the Swiss population of 8.6 million, or about 390,000 people, most of whom have their roots in Turkey, Bosnia and Kosovo.
The referendum outcome means Switzerland will follow France, which banned wearing a full face veil in public in 2011. Full or partial bans on wearing face coverings in public are also in place in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Switzerland to ban wearing of burqa and niqab in public places | Switzerland | The Guardian

**TTraveler** · 08-03-2021, 05:10 AM

How does a country enforce a ban like this? Must be a touchy issue. And when police are already under so much pressure from every side of society...

**Cujo** · 08-03-2021, 05:41 AM

They're creepy things with no place in an advanced secular society.

**cyrille** · 08-03-2021, 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by TTraveler

How does a country enforce a ban like this? Must be a touchy issue. And when police are already under so much pressure from every side of society...

And particularly when everyone's wearing a mask anyway.

They're an odd bunch, the Swiss. Especially in the more rural areas.

**Backspin** · 08-03-2021, 01:25 PM

Originally Posted by cyrille

And particularly when everyone's wearing a mask anyway.

They're an odd bunch, the Swiss. Especially in the more rural areas.

There's a reason they are called mountain Jews

**harrybarracuda** · 08-03-2021, 01:34 PM

Originally Posted by cyrille

And particularly when everyone's wearing a mask anyway.

They're an odd bunch, the Swiss. Especially in the more rural areas.

Yes, imagine the copper who says "Take off that burqa".

"It's my mask".

"Erm......"

**cyrille** · 08-03-2021, 01:41 PM

You had to work pretty hard to miss the point there, harry.

It's pretty obvious.

A niqab IS a mask, basically.

In truth this seems like just an excuse to ask people for ID.

Once women have shown that they'll just be told 'don't do it again'.

**harrybarracuda** · 08-03-2021, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by cyrille

You had to work pretty hard to miss the point there, harry.

It's pretty obvious.

A niqab IS a mask, basically.

In truth this seems like just an excuse to ask people for ID.

Once women have shown that they'll just be told 'don't do it again'.

I think you missed my point.

Face coverings worn for health and safety reasons are also exempt from the ban, meaning face masks worn because of the Covid-19 pandemic will not be affected by the new law.

They are banning face coverings but, er, exempting face coverings worn for the 'rona.

Which means all said bint has to do is say "It's my mask".

It's why I asked if Switzerland has a mask mandate.

I believe it does.

In which case you have the absurd paradox of a police officer demanding that you break the law.

**nidhogg** · 08-03-2021, 02:18 PM

^ While you two seems to be having fun, surely the point is that masks for covid are not "full face" which is the target of this legislation.

**Cujo** · 08-03-2021, 02:59 PM

Originally Posted by Backspin

There's a reason they are called mountain Jews

Are they?

**harrybarracuda** · 08-03-2021, 03:11 PM

Originally Posted by nidhogg

^ While you two seems to be having fun, surely the point is that masks for covid are not "full face" which is the target of this legislation.

That would assume the mask mandate stipulates the mask details to this extent.

I would imagine any half decent lawyer would soon rip that argument to shreds.

In fact:

There is no legally binding quality standard for community masks.

Masks

It's all "recommendations".

**cyrille** · 08-03-2021, 06:47 PM

And neither of us were suggesting there was no difference between a mask and a niqab.

Sorry you weren't 'having fun' there.

It just makes this legislation even sillier than it would otherwise have been.

One of the arguments against Muslim dress for women is that it makes the person hard to identify.

Well COVID masking clearly does that too.

**sabang** · 08-03-2021, 07:32 PM

Switzerland is and remains the World's best true democracy. The people have spoken.

**Backspin** · 08-03-2021, 09:05 PM

Originally Posted by sabang

Switzerland is and remains the World's best true democracy. The people have spoken.

yeah Switzerland is one of the good countries. Do you have any Swiss roots btw ?

**sabang** · 09-03-2021, 06:43 AM

Not that I know of! Visited twice, that's all. What sets Switzerland apart from the quasi-democracies that the anglo nations have become is that ordinary citizens can call a national Referendum, so everything is not held hostage to party politics.

**russellsimpson** · 09-03-2021, 08:11 AM

Originally Posted by TheRealKW

Switzerland’s parliament and the seven-member executive council that constitutes the country’s federal government opposed the referendum proposal. They argued that full facial veils represented a “fringe phenomenon”, and instead proposed an initiative that would force people to lift their facial coverings when asked to confirm their identity to officials.

This seems a perfectly reasonable request.

**Backspin** · 09-03-2021, 09:13 AM

Originally Posted by sabang

Not that I know of! Visited twice, that's all. What sets Switzerland apart from the quasi-democracies that the anglo nations have become is that ordinary citizens can call a national Referendum, so everything is not held hostage to party politics.

Yeah I was just wondering because you look Swiss

**lom** · 09-03-2021, 09:36 AM

Originally Posted by Backspin

Yeah I was just wondering because you look Swiss

This?

or this?

**panama hat** · 09-03-2021, 09:43 AM

^ The latter

(The former is what Skidmark dreams sabang looks like

)

Many countries already have rues and laws in place that limit the use of full-face coverings, eg. drivers licences, passports etc...

It's all a matter of being able to identify a person for whatever reason, not an anti-Muslim issue

**Cujo** · 09-03-2021, 11:18 AM

My maternal grandmother was Swiss.

**Klondyke** · 10-03-2021, 03:12 PM

Originally Posted by panama hat

And by trying to be clever you fail again . . . stick to Russian, hopefully you're better at that.

Are we still in Switzerland with burqas? (just curious...) (BTW, do they speak there in Russian?)

**sabang** · 11-03-2021, 05:19 PM

I am sure Swiss bankers do not wish to upset their Russian clientele, and hasten to assure you that there are indeed Rues in the French speaking part of the nation.

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