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French Parliamentary Report Urges Ban of Full Face Veil In Public Buildings and Transport

By Howard M. Friedman

A long awaited report from a French parliamentary committee released today recommends a ban on women wearing the Muslim full-face veil in hospitals, schools, government office and on public transport. It suggested that anyone ignoring the ban in a public building should be denied the services offered in it. The report called wearing of the full face veil "a challenge to our republic," and urged Parliament to pass a resolution declaring that the veil is contrary to French republican principles of secularism. According to BBC News, the report also recommends taking into account in asylum requests coercion to wear the full veil as an indication of a wider persecution, and calls for creation of a national school of Islamic studies. The report, however, stopped short of calling for a total ban on full face veils, viewing that as difficult to enforce and as possibly making France a target for terrorism. (See prior related posting.)

Full post as published by Religion Clause on January 26, 2010 (boomark / email).