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France
- Face Veil Ruling Undermines Rights - Human Rights Watch
European
Court Upholds Discriminatory Ban
July 3, 2014 - Paris – The European Court of Human Rights’ ruling
approving France’s blanket ban on full-face veils undermines
Muslim women’s rights, Human Rights Watch said today. The ban interferes with
women’s rights to express their religion and beliefs freely and to personal
autonomy.
“It’s disappointing that the European Court has given its seal of approval to
France’s blanket ban on full-face veils in public,” said Izza Leghtas,
Western Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Bans like these undermine the
rights of women who choose to wear the veil and do little to protect anyone
compelled to do so, just as laws in other countries forcing women to dress in a
particular way undermine their rights.”
Since France introduced the ban in 2010, Human Rights Watch and others have contended that it breaches the rights to freedom of
religion and expression of those who choose to wear the niqab or burqa and is
discriminatory. Similar bans on full-face veils are in force in Belgium and in several towns in Catalonia, Spain.
Bans of this nature – whether formulated in neutral terms or explicitly
targeting the Muslim veil – have a disproportionate impact on Muslim women, and
thereby violate the right to not be discriminated against on the basis of
religion and gender, Human Rights Watch said.
The European Court has previously upheld restrictions on religious dress
affecting the wearing of the headscarf in educational institutions in Turkey
and Switzerland. With this Grand Chamber ruling on the case of S.A.S v
France, the court took a position for the first time on blanket bans on
full-face veils in public. While the court rejected the French government’s
arguments that the ban was necessary to protect security and equality between
men and women, it ruled that the ban was justified for the ill-defined aim of
“living together,” accepting the French government’s case that a full-face veil
prevents interaction between individuals.
A minority of judges, in a separate opinion, rejected the argument that the
blanket ban pursued a legitimate aim and said that, in any event, the ban was
far-reaching and not necessary in a democratic society. They said the decision
“sacrifices concrete individual rights guaranteed by the Convention to abstract
principles,” referring to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The case was brought by “S.A.S,” a Muslim French citizen, who sometimes wears a
“niqab” – a veil covering the face except for the eyes. She contended that
France’s ban on full-face veils breached her rights to freedom of religion,
expression, and private life. She also contended that the ban was discriminatory
on the basis of gender, religion, and ethnic origin.
France introduced the ban amid a heated public debate about secularism, women’s
rights, and security, through a law adopted in October 2010. The law made it a
criminal offense to wear clothing intended to cover the face in public,
punishable by a fine of up to 150€ (US$210) and/or a compulsory “citizenship
course.” The law also rightly criminalizes coercing someone else into covering
their face, punishable by up to a year in prison and a 30,000€ ($40,950) fine,
or two years in prison and a 60,000€ fine if the person coerced is a minor. The
law entered into force in April 2011.
According to the French Observatory on Secularism (Observatoire de la
laïcité) – a consultative body tasked with advising the government on
secularism – between April 2011, when the ban became effective, and February
2014, law enforcement officials fined 594 women for wearing full-face veils.
Many of the women affected were fined more than once.
An argument often raised in favor of the ban, and which the court rejected, is
that it emancipates women who are forced to cover their faces. But for women
who are indeed coerced into wearing a full-face veil, the ban can have the
effect of confining them to their homes and isolating them further from society
by preventing them from using public transportation, entering public buildings,
or even walking on the street.
As for the many women – including “S.A.S.” – who choose to wear the full-face
veil as an expression of their religious beliefs, they should be able to do so
without breaking the law, Human Rights Watch said.
Indeed, France has a duty, under the European Convention on Human Rights and
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to respect
and protect freedom of religion, expression, and personal autonomy of all those
on its territory. While the convention and the covenant allow certain restrictions
of those rights, they must be necessary for a legitimate purpose such as
preserving public safety or public order, and they must be proportionate. Human
Rights Watch maintains that a blanket ban such as the one in force in France is
disproportionate.
A core part of the right to freedom of expression is that it includes the right
to express opinions that offend, shock, or disturb. As two dissenting judges
said, “There is no right not to be shocked or provoked by different models of
cultural or religious identity, even those that are very distant from the
traditional French and European life-style.”
Though the ban on wearing, in public, “clothing intended to conceal the face”
may appear neutral, in reality it primarily affects Muslim women wearing the
niqab or the burqa and is, as such, discriminatory. It is disturbing that the
court acknowledged the specific negative effects of the ban on Muslim women,
yet considered that it was justified, Human Rights Watch said.
International human rights experts have also condemned blanket bans on the
niqab and burqa. Thomas Hammarberg, the former Council of Europe commissioner
for human rights, called general bans on full-face veils “an ill-advised
invasion of individual privacy.” The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe has also opposed such bans, warning against the adverse effects of women
being confined to their homes and excluded from educational institutions and
public places.
Human Rights Watch has also opposed laws and policies in other countries, such
as Saudi Arabia, Iran,
and Afghanistan
under the rule of the Taliban, for forcing women to cover their hair or their
face because they deny them their right to personal autonomy and their rights
to freedom of expression, belief, and religion.
France should end its criminalization of women who choose to cover their faces,
and protect those who are coerced to do so without excluding them from public
space, Human Rights Watch said.
“Women in France and elsewhere should be free to dress as they please,”
Leghtas said. “This includes deciding whether to wear a full-face veil or not,
whatever others may think.”
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