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Issue 255, Friday 30 July 2010 - 18 Sha'ban 1431

“Liberté”: 335; Liberté: 1

By Siraj Datoo

On July 13, the French National Assembly, equivalent to the House of Commons, voted by an overwhelming majority of 335 to one in favour of a ban on full-face masks. This was despite many left-wing parties, such as the Socialists and Greens refusing to vote, arguing that the law would be unconstitutional – although Le Figaro and Le Point both point out that these parties were all resolutely against the wearing of the niqab.

To be more specific, Article 1 of the bill stipulates, “no person may wear clothing to conceal his face in public,” which includes the niqab, a veil that covers the face. Those who disobey this law will be subjected to a fine of €150 and will have to complete a course on citizenship; a €30 000 fine or one year in jail faces anyone found to be forcing a woman to wear the veil. Nevertheless, the bill has to pass through the Senate and the Constitutional body of the French state, the Conseil Constitutionnel. While it is likely to be approved by the Senate, the latter is likely to force a revision of the law or challenge the bill.

The centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, which has an absolute majority in the National Assembly, has stated that the bill declares opposition to oppression (it was only last year that President Nicolas Sarkozy said the niqab was “unwelcome” in France and Immigration Minister described the niqab as a “walking coffin” in the past few weeks) whilst a Deputy (Member of the Assembly) has also said, “This text will honour those who decided to defend the values of the Republic.”

Those who agree with the legislation give at least two reasons for the wrongly-named burqa ban (the burqa is a veil which covers the entire face while the niqab, what they really mean, leaves a small gap for the eyes.) Firstly, in a western society, you cannot have a “decent” conversation with someone who covers his or her face. Next, and more significantly they argue, the niqab is forced upon women and thus makes the woman subjugated and dehumanised. Some mention security being one of the reasons but this is rare.

The French have three main republic values – liberty, equality and fraternity – which date back to the French Revolution. Amnesty International’s John Dalhuisen has said, “ A complete ban on the covering of the face would violate the freedom of expression and religion of those women who wear the burqa or the niqab as an expression of identity or beliefs…people should be free to choose what – and what not – to wear.”

This ban has a severe risk of curtailing the rights of each of those women who want to wear the niqab and this is precisely the reason that the Conseil d’état, a French administrative body, deemed the ban “unconstitutional” earlier this year. Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion: this right includes freedom…to manifest his religion.”

Thus we arrive at the question: does this ban lead to true liberté? Republican values were said to be an essential reason for the approval of this bill – women must be given their rights and they should no longer be forced into wearing the niqab. As many have said, this leaves a major problem. Instead of simply being given permission to leave the house sans niqab, an increasing number of women will be confined to their homes.

Although polls show that over 80% of French people agree with this ban, comments under an article on the Le Figaro website show that there are some who remain worried about the priorities of the Government. France has not fared well through the economic downturn; instead of creating policies to combat the greater-than 2.9 million unemployed last month, they are wasting time making bills that really affect only 2000 French women.