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Anti burqa adopted in France

Last Updated on Thursday, 26 May 2011 04:35 Written by Administrator Thursday, 26 May 2011 04:22

The ban on the wearing of the burqa passed by MPs
By 335 votes against one, the National Assembly adopted on first reading, the bill that prohibits the wearing of the burqa in public.
The UMP and the New Center voted for, like the radical left, the Socialists, Communists and Greens have boycotted the elections.
This is only a token vote, but it is overwhelming: 335 votes against with one, MEPs adopted on first reading the bill that prohibits the wearing of the burqa in public places.

As announced, the UMP and the New Center voted for. The Socialists, the Greens and the Communists did not take part in the vote - only a communist, Andre Gerin, who chaired the inquiry, has voted in favor.
The PS has highlighted the legal risk of a total ban, saying a censure of the Constitutional Council would be "a priceless gift to the fundamentalists we are fighting against all."

Section 1 provides that "no person shall, in public, wear clothing designed to conceal his face." The text provides a fine of 150 euros, which will either supplement or replace a citizenship course. It also creates a new crime, intended to punish any person who requires a woman to wear the veil by "threats, violence, coercion, abuse of authority or abuse of power". The penalty is heavy: a year in prison and 30,000 euros fine, a penalty doubled if the girl in question is a minor.

The burqa banned in France

Finish the full veil in public places French. Parliament finally adopted Tuesday at a final Senate vote, the bill prohibiting the wearing of the niqab - which reveals that the eyes - and burqa - that hides the whole body - in public . However, the text is "hiding the face in public" must still be approved by the Constitutional Council. This should be effective within a month.

Bernard Accoyer and Gérard Larcher, UMP presidents respectively of the Assembly and Senate, have seized on Tuesday the Constitutional ban on the text of the full veil. And this, "so that it conforms to the Constitution can be assigned to any uncertainty," they said.

150 euro fine for a burqa

As for the ban in itself, it should not take effect until spring 2011. Six months of "mediation" and "teaching" is planned before.

Specifically, the text is forbidden the wearing of the veil or face a fine of 150 euros and a citizenship course. But verbalization is not systematic. Other provisions apply: any person requiring a woman to veil shall be liable to one year in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros, according to a new offense effective.

The Hexagon is the first European country to make this prohibition. A similar measure is being adopted in Belgium.

The full veil is worn by some 1900 women in France, according to official estimates. In a country with strong secular tradition, which bans the wearing of the veil as other conspicuous religious symbols in schools, the vote takes place in a peaceful climate. Far from the political tension that prevailed a few months ago mainly because of the highly controversial debate concomitant of the "national identity".

The issue of banning the full veil was launched by a Parliamentary Communist Andre Gerin, former mayor of Vénissieux - a suburb of Lyon with a high immigrant population -. She was then taken over by the right to power, Nicolas Sarkozy declaring that the burqa is "not welcome in the territory of the Republic."

If there is unanimity in condemning the political class for wearing a full veil, which some compare to a "gender apartheid", members of the opposition have continued to point out the risks of "unconstitutionality" of a general prohibition or "stigma" of the 5 to 6 million Muslims living in France, mostly reluctant to such a law.

Risk?

France may risk a conviction by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), said lawyers. The State Council, the highest administrative court, had expressed reservations about a blanket ban the full veil, recommending to limit it to certain public places.