Dutch plan to ban Muslim burqas, other garments

[Amelia]

Dutch plan to ban Muslim burqas, other garments

By Gregory Crouch

The New York Times

November 18, 2006

NIJMEGEN, Netherlands ｷ Five days before a national election here, the center-right government announced Friday that it planned to introduce legislation to ban burqas and similar garments in public places, saying the full-body garb worn by a small number of Muslim women in the Netherlands posed a security threat.

The Netherlands has been considering such a move for months, in reaction to the burqa and other articles of clothing that hide the wearer's face and eyes. The government has raised the fear that a terrorist might put one on to move beyond security checks and carry out an attack.

The Dutch discussion is part of a larger European debate about how far governments can go in legislating what people -- specifically Muslim women and girls -- can and cannot wear.

Last month, Britain's former foreign secretary, Jack Straw, raised a commotion when he urged Muslim women to remove full facial veils when talking to him, saying the veil is "such a visible statement of separation and of difference" that it jeopardizes British social harmony. Prime Minister Tony Blair subsequently backed Straw.

The fate of the Dutch proposal is uncertain, and critics accused the government of introducing it as a campaign ploy in a country that is still reeling from the murder in 2004 of a filmmaker, Theo van Gogh, by a Muslim fundamentalist.

But if it should pass in parliament, women would be prohibited from wearing burqas in a variety of public venues, including schools, trains, courts and even on the street.

"The Cabinet finds it undesirable that face-covering clothing -- including the burqa -- is worn in public places for reasons of public order, security and protection of citizens," the immigration minister, Rita Verdonk, said Friday.

About a million Muslims live in the Netherlands, about 6 percent of the population, and only between 50 and 100 women regularly wear a burqa, Muslim groups say, making them a rare sight. In light of that, some Muslims say they see the entire burqa issue as a referendum on their very existence here, a suggestion that government officials deny.

"It's ridiculous," said Yasar Kalkan, a Muslim auto mechanic in Leidschendam. "When you go out on the street, how many burqas do you see? None," he said, adding that Verdonk "should find something better to do with her time."

Verdonk and others noted that the law would extend beyond religious garments to include head-sized helmets with full-length visors and any other article that completely covers the wearer's head and face.

"We want to see whom we are talking to," Verdonk said last week.

The Dutch are not alone among European countries in seeking to restrict some forms of Muslim dress.

[olger]

It is leading up to something...

[Dr. Shane]

It is a difficult religious liberty issue. Perhaps it can be compared to the issue of some mormon sects wanting to marry multiple wives. Where does social order trump religious liberty? Or should it ever?

[bevin]

In the USA there are laws against carrying a concealed weapon

There are laws against carrying various non-concealed weapons

Every society has had its rules about what you can not carry in public

I think society is allowed to create sensible laws that protect its members from the violent acts of others

/Bevin