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The veil: A threat or a right?

Irene Khan
Human rights cannot be trumped easily by security concerns. At stake here are the fundamental rights to freedom of expression and religion. Under international law, these rights can only be restricted if public security, order or morals, or the rights of others are seriously threatened.
Anew law was adopted in Belgium last month, which effectively criminalises the wearing of the full veil — niqab or burka—in public places.
The Belgian law is not a one-off phenomenon but part of a growing trend throughout Western Europe to clamp down on veils and headscarves. Nudity on the beach is acceptable; covering your face onthebusis not.
In 2004 the French government banned the wearing of headscarves in schools. A French parliamentary commission is now proposing a law to prohibit the veil in all public facilities including hospitals, post offices, buses and welfare offices.
In the Netherlands, several draft laws banning the veil are before the parliament, including a measure that would stop teachers and civil servants from wearing it.
In Denmark, the government is discussing limiting the wearing of the veil in public places, including schools and courts.
In Britain, a government directive allows the school authorities to prohibit the niqab in classrooms.
Opinion polls show that the majority of the public is in support of these measures. But this obsession with the veil is quite out of proportion with the size of the problem. Only 1,900 women out of a total population of 5 million Muslims in France wear the full veil. In Belgium, the number is around a few dozen.
Many Muslims find it hard to understand why a Europe that tolerates cruci-
fixes, skull caps and turbans is drawing the line on the veil. To them, it is yet another sign of Islamophobia, or intolerance of Islam, in the wake of the War on Terror.
To others it is a clash of civilisations — the values of a secular, modern Europe colliding with the religious dogmas of medieval Islam. They fear for Europe's cultural integrity in the face of rising Muslim immigration. For some, the veil is a security threat.
What kind of a security risk does the veil create? Neither suicide bombers nor burglars have taken to wearing the burka, nor are people on the streets of European cities being mugged by niqabwearers. True, terrorists or criminals might try to escape identification by putting on a burka or niqab, but by that same logic governments should ban motorcycle helmets, balaclava caps, hooded jackets and outsized sunglasses.
Human rights cannot be trumped easily by security concerns. At stake here are the fundamental rights to freedom of expression and religion. Under international law, these rights can only be restricted if public security, order or morals, or the rights of others are seriously threatened. Moreover, the restrictive measure must be proportional to the risk and narrowly focused so that it cannot be abused. A blanket ban on veils, as in Belgium, fails the test on all counts.
It is wrong for Belgium or Turkey to force a woman not to wear the veil. But that does not mean it is right for Saudi Arabia or Iran to force a woman to cover her head. The right to express one's
identity or belief means the right of a woman to take off the veil or to put it on. The state should not dictate what a woman must wear nor regulate a woman's peaceful expression of her religious beliefs. The choice is that of the woman.
Feminists say the veil degrades the dignity of women. They see it as a symbol of women's oppression, and want it banned as a matter of public policy. In other words, they say it is not matter of a woman's choice. This smacks of paternalism, and ignores the many educated, articulate, independent-minded women who want to wear the veil or head scarf as an explicit expression of their faith and identity. I may not agree with their values but I have no right to impose my interpretation of dignity on them -- and neither does any government.
The real question is whether women are able to make their choice freely. In Europe - - as in Muslim countries - - many women are coerced by family and custom to don the veil. Sometimes they wear the veil out of fear of harassment and violence by strangers or others in their community if they do not cover their bodies fully.
Governments must devote more attention and resources to ending all forms of gender violence -- from harassment in the work place and domestic violence to rape and honour killings. Eradicating gender violence and empowering women and girls through education and employment will give them voice and choice — and will be a better weapon against conservative cultural and religious forces than laws banning veils.
As for those who argue that the veil is a barrier to the integration of Muslim immigrants in Europe, they are fooling themselves. The real obstacle to integration is not a piece of cloth around a woman's face, but poverty, social exclusion, youth unemployment, discrimination and racism. Laws against the veil only alienate and anger Muslims, and fan the flames of xenophobia and extremism.
Cultural norms do not shift overnight through law but evolve through education and interaction over time. European governments must invest more in social development as well as education, awareness-building and dialogue across communities, Muslim and non-Muslim. In particular, they must create space for the women themselves to participate.
And what, if after all that, women still choose to wear the veil? Like secularism, tolerance is also a European value --Europe should not forsake it.
Abandoning the attack on the veil and focusing instead on creating a safe, empowering environment for women will be a more effective policy response by European governments. It will also send a powerful message to Muslim countries — where equality still evades women and where many of them are compelled by custom, culture or coercion to wear the veil -- that the state's role is not to police a woman's morals or clothes, but to protect her from violence and discrimination.
Irene Khan Is a former Secretary General of Amnesty International.