France to ban full Islamic veil from public spaces

Notícia:

 

PARIS — The French government will ban Muslim women from wearing a full-face veil in public, despite a warning from experts that such a law could be unconstitutional, it announced Wednesday.

The spokesman for President Nicolas Sarkozy's government said a bill would be presented to ministers in May and would seek to ban the niqab and the burqa from streets, shops and markets and not just from public buildings.

"We're legislating for the future. Wearing a full veil is a sign of a community closing in on itself and of a rejection of our values," Luc Chatel told reporters, on leaving a cabinet meeting chaired by Sarkozy.

Last month, the State Council -- France's top administrative authority -- warned Sarkozy against a full ban on the veil, suggesting instead an order that women uncover their faces for security checks or meetings with officials.

"It appears to the State Council that a general and absolute ban on the full veil as such can have no incontestable judicial basis," it said, suggesting a full ban could be declared unconstitutional and overturned in court.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon insisted the government would go ahead anyway, taking the risk that the eventual text would be struck down by the constitutional court, because of the importance of the issue.

"If we are convinced that it's a question of human dignity we can't let ourselves be over-cautious about respecting laws that are no longer appropriate for today's society," he said.

"We have to develop the jurisprudence of the constitutional court and of the European Court of Human Rights in order to confront a new question that no-one was asking 20 years ago."

There is strong support in parliament for such a ban and the government is determined to press on with a law, which it says would affect only around 2,000 Muslim French women who currently cover their faces.

According to Chatel, Sarkozy told his cabinet the veil was an "assault on women's dignity".

Most Muslim women, in France's immigrant communities and around the world, do not wear a full veil, but the niqab, which covers the face apart from the eyes, is widely worn on the Arabian peninsular and in the Gulf states.

The burqa, a shapeless full-body cloak that covers the face with a fabric grille, is worn in some areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Muslim scholars differ in their interpretation of the Koran's rules on what constitutes modest dress, and many argue veils are a cultural tradition rather than a religious obligation.

In France, the garments are widely identified with fundamentalist strains of Islam and with the repression of women in some communities, and politicians accuse radical clerics of promoting their use.

"We're not going to let this phenomenon drift," Chatel said.

France's neighbour Belgium is also preparing legislation, and could become the first European country to ban the full veil when a bill goes before parliament during a plenary session from Thursday.

In France the idea of banning the veil has won support from across the political spectrum.

Members of Sarkozy's right-wing UMP party have been pushing him to enact tough legislation, but left-wing lawmakers were also among those who welcomed the decision to draft the law.

An association set up to defend the rights of women in France's immigrant ghettos -- "Neither Whores Nor Submissives" -- hailed Sarkozy's decision as a "victory for women".

"I ask lawmakers to have the courage to back a law to protect and free women. Let's hear the voices of those who are fighting green fascism," said chairwoman Sihem Habchi, referring to the traditional colour of Islam.

Outside France, North African militants with ties to Al-Qaeda have threatened attacks on French interests if the law is passed and US President Barack Obama has made it clear he does not support Europe's moves.

 

Two veiled muslim women walk down a street in Marseille

 

Veiled women walk in a corridor of a Paris subway station

 

Women stand by a fashion stall during the annual meeting of French Muslims

 

Fonte: AFP

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Notícia:

O presidente da França, Nicolas Sarkozy, ordenou hoje a elaboração de um projeto de lei com o objetivo de impedir mulheres muçulmanas de utilizarem, na rua e em outros locais públicos, tradicionais véus islâmicos que cobrem o rosto. Na tentativa de impedir o uso do véu feminino em lugares públicos, Sarkozy preferiu ignorar as recomendações de especialistas consultados pelo governo segundo os quais tal medida provavelmente seria declarada inconstitucional.

A decisão de buscar uma proibição total, e não limitada, pegou os analistas políticos de surpresa. Caso o projeto de lei vá adiante, a França se colocaria na mesma posição de países como a Bélgica, que se mobiliza para proibir totalmente o uso do véu por considerar que a cultura islâmica estaria em conflito com "valores europeus".

Sarkozy já declarou em diversas ocasiões que considera os véus islâmicos um mecanismo de opressão à mulher e que seu uso "não é bem-vindo" na França. Luc Chatel, porta-voz do governo francês, disse hoje, depois da reunião semanal de gabinete, que o presidente decidiu seguir adiante com a ideia de apresentar em maio um projeto de lei ao Parlamento com o objetivo de banir totalmente o uso da burca e de outros véus similares em público.

"Isto é um transgressão, ou até mesmo uma agressão, no que concerne à liberdade do indivíduo", denunciou Abdellatif Lemsibak, integrante da Federação Nacional de Muçulmanos da França. "Os muçulmanos têm o direito a uma manifestação ortodoxa de sua religião. Estou chocado", prosseguiu.

A França é um país secular que abriga a maior população islâmica da Europa, estimada atualmente em cerca de 5 milhões. As autoridades locais consideram o véu incoerente com a igualdade entre os gêneros ao mesmo tempo em que temem a disseminação de uma forma radical do Islã dentro de suas fronteiras.

Fonte: http://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/internacional,sarkozy-quer-elaboracao-de-lei-para-proibir-veu-islamico,541319,0.htm