France, the Vatican, Italy and Canada: Pros and Cons of a Law Forbidding the Burka

The French parliamentary mission on the burka, the complete veil worn by Islamic women, announced its conclusions on January 26 at the National Assembly. The report attribute by reporter Eric Raoult (UPM) to the Assembly's president Bernard Accoyer declares that it is necessary to “convince, to educate and to protect”.  Notwithstanding, the mission recommends first of all a law that will forbid this full veil to be worn in public services, that is, in schools, hospitals, administrations, and public transportation, but not in all public places.

Certain deputies of the majority regret that the mission has proposed a law of interdiction restricted to the public services, while the socialist side deplores that fact that this report was “polluted” by the current debate on national identity. The report considers that wearing the complete veil is “contrary to the values of the Republic”: the practice of wearing the burka is the fruit of a “communitarian imprisonment”, “the standard of an integrist movement: Salafism”.

The report requests a law forbidding the “concealing of the face” in public services and requiring that the persons concerned not only show their face on entering a public service, but also keep their face uncovered while inside. In the case of refusal, they will not receive the desired services. The report also wishes that the Miviludes (Interministerial Mission for vigilance and combat against sectarian tendencies) draw up an inventory of eventual “sectarian tendencies” among the women who wear the full veil. It will also be possible, after a modification of certain dispositions of the Code for the entry and residency of foreigners and for the right of asylum (Ceseda), to refuse to issue a residency card to persons who wear the burka. These same persons, along with their spouses may even find themselves refused French citizenship.

On January 29, the French Prime Minister, François Fillon, asked the State Council to submit to him, in view of a bill, its juridical solutions “that will allow the realization of an interdiction as broad and effective as possible of the full veil”. A response is to be directed to him “before the end of the month of March”. He emphasizes that “the government is convinced that the wearing of the full veil is unacceptable in our Republic, because as the sign of a communitarian withdrawal, it is contrary to the principle of equality between men and women, as well as to our conception of human dignity.” He develops further: “In addition, it is essential that the reflection be conducted under conditions that will anticipate any risk of interpretation that would wound our Muslim compatriots.”

At the Vatican, on January 27, Msgr. Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, expressed his support for the French bishops who have declared themselves opposed to a law that would impose the interdiction of the wearing of the burka. Following the example of the French episcopate, the Roman prelate, who was interviewed by the Italian magazine L'Occidentale, considers that “the full veil in public places should be forbidden”, but he expresses a strong reserve as to the pertinence of “an imposition of this interdiction by a law”. On the other hand, Mara Carfanga, Italian minister for Equal Opportunities, declares that she “agrees absolutely with the French initiative that will encourage the other European countries, and thus Italy, to legislate on this question”. For her, it is a question of waging “a battle to defend the dignity and the rights of immigrant women”.

In Canada, Salma Siddiqui, vice-president of the Muslim Canadian Congress, hopes for the interdiction not only of the burka, which covers the whole body leaving only a little grill that allows the woman to see, but also of the niqab, a garment that is similar to the burka but leaves the eyes uncovered. The Canadian Muslim head of the congress calls the burka an object of subservience.  He thinks that it is the “politically correct” that prevents politicians from forbidding its use.

According to La Presse Canadienne of Ottawa, however, Marlene Jennings, liberal deputy of Notre-Dame-de-Grace/Lachine, believe that women have the right to wear the burka if they wish to. Even if, as a woman, the wearing of the burka “makes her (personally) feel a little uneasy”. She recalls that Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects religious liberty and that the Supreme Court of Canada has frequently passed judgments forbidding the limitation of this same liberty. (DICI n°209, Feb. 6, 2010 – Sources: AFP/Apic)