Swiss agree to outlaw facial coverings in 'burqa ban' vote

[Vanguard One]

ZURICH (Reuters) - A far-right proposal to ban facial coverings in Switzerland won a narrow victory in a binding referendum on Sunday instigated by the same group that organised a 2009 ban on new minarets.


The measure to amend the Swiss constitution passed by a 51.2-48.8% margin, provisional official results showed.

The proposal under the Swiss system of direct democracy does not mention Islam directly and also aims to stop violent street protesters from wearing masks, yet local politicians, media and campaigners have dubbed it the burqa ban.

“In Switzerland, our tradition is that you show your face. That is a sign of our basic freedoms,” Walter Wobmann, chairman of the referendum committee and a member of parliament for the Swiss People’s Party, had said before the vote.

Facial covering is “a symbol for this extreme, political Islam which has become increasingly prominent in Europe and which has no place in Switzerland,” he said.


Muslim groups condemned the vote and said they would challenge it.

“Today’s decision opens old wounds, further expands the principle of legal inequality, and sends a clear signal of exclusion to the Muslim minority,” the Central Council of Muslims in Switzerland said.

It promised legal challenges to laws implementing the ban and a fundraising drive to help women who are fined.

“Anchoring dress codes in the constitution is not a liberation struggle for women but a step back into the past,” the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland said, adding Swiss values of neutrality, tolerance and peacemaking had suffered in the debate.


France banned wearing a full face veil in public in 2011 and Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands and Bulgaria have full or partial bans on wearing face coverings in public.

Two Swiss cantons already have local bans on face coverings, although almost no one in Switzerland wears a burqa and only around 30 women wear the niqab, the University of Lucerne estimates. Muslims make up 5% of the Swiss population of 8.6 million people, most with roots in Turkey, Bosnia and Kosovo.

The government had urged people to vote against a ban.

Additional reporting by John Revill, Editing by David Goodman, Elaine Hardcastle and Catherine Evans
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Swiss agree to outlaw facial coverings in 'burqa ban' vote

A far-right proposal to ban facial coverings in Switzerland won a narrow victory in a binding referendum on Sunday instigated by the same group that organised a 2009 ban on new minarets.

www.reuters.com

This is awesome, should ban mosque etc being built in Western countries as well.

 

[Vortex]

ZURICH (Reuters) - A far-right proposal to ban facial coverings in Switzerland won a narrow victory in a binding referendum on Sunday instigated by the same group that organised a 2009 ban on new minarets.


The measure to amend the Swiss constitution passed by a 51.2-48.8% margin, provisional official results showed.

The proposal under the Swiss system of direct democracy does not mention Islam directly and also aims to stop violent street protesters from wearing masks, yet local politicians, media and campaigners have dubbed it the burqa ban.

“In Switzerland, our tradition is that you show your face. That is a sign of our basic freedoms,” Walter Wobmann, chairman of the referendum committee and a member of parliament for the Swiss People’s Party, had said before the vote.

Facial covering is “a symbol for this extreme, political Islam which has become increasingly prominent in Europe and which has no place in Switzerland,” he said.


Muslim groups condemned the vote and said they would challenge it.

“Today’s decision opens old wounds, further expands the principle of legal inequality, and sends a clear signal of exclusion to the Muslim minority,” the Central Council of Muslims in Switzerland said.

It promised legal challenges to laws implementing the ban and a fundraising drive to help women who are fined.

“Anchoring dress codes in the constitution is not a liberation struggle for women but a step back into the past,” the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland said, adding Swiss values of neutrality, tolerance and peacemaking had suffered in the debate.


France banned wearing a full face veil in public in 2011 and Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands and Bulgaria have full or partial bans on wearing face coverings in public.

Two Swiss cantons already have local bans on face coverings, although almost no one in Switzerland wears a burqa and only around 30 women wear the niqab, the University of Lucerne estimates. Muslims make up 5% of the Swiss population of 8.6 million people, most with roots in Turkey, Bosnia and Kosovo.

The government had urged people to vote against a ban.

Additional reporting by John Revill, Editing by David Goodman, Elaine Hardcastle and Catherine Evans
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Swiss agree to outlaw facial coverings in 'burqa ban' vote

A far-right proposal to ban facial coverings in Switzerland won a narrow victory in a binding referendum on Sunday instigated by the same group that organised a 2009 ban on new minarets.

www.reuters.com

This is awesome, should ban mosque etc being built in Western countries as well.

Well Iunderstand their position. But I hope they will stop wearing anti covid mask too

 

[PeaceGen]

I'm not in favor of such laws.

Except in places where photo-id is required, people should be free to dress how they want, even with face-coverings. Asians get to cover half their face with anti-flu masks, then Muslims should also get the right to wear face-covering clothing in public.

 

[denel]

Well Iunderstand their position. But I hope they will stop wearing anti covid mask too

or ask nuns to remove their head scarves.

 

[Vortex]

or ask nuns to remove their head scarves.

Lol but the headscarf doesn’t hide their face, just hairs if I’m not mistaken. The Covid-19 masks =>

Even my Face ID doesn’t recognise me when I wear my FFP2 mask

 

[denel]

Lol but the headscarf doesn’t hide their face, just hairs if I’m not mistaken. The Covid-19 masks =>

Even my Face ID doesn’t recognise me when I wear my FFP2 mask

if you noticed on the list was bulgaria - they had issues witht heir turk minorities from the communist times. French had a historical issue with the North africans. so it is not religious etc, it is political weaponisation of their inrooted hatred.

 

[Taimoor Khan]

Just to give some perspective:

Muslims campaign against Swiss referendum on banning face veils (trtworld.com)


According to current estimates, the total number of niqab wearers in Switzerland ranges from less than 30 to 130 individuals



I sincerely wish, that one day, I wake up and read in some Pakistani English news paper, an article written by an ultra liberal, which will make sense.

 

[Vortex]

if you noticed on the list was bulgaria - they had issues witht heir turk minorities from the communist times. French had a historical issue with the North africans. so it is not religious etc, it is political weaponisation of their inrooted hatred.

Totally agreed but in the same time, many Muslims don’t behave respectfully. It’s unfortunate and sad but true. We give them sticks to beat us.

 

[denel]

Totally agreed but in the same time, many Muslims don’t behave respectfully. It’s unfortunate and sad but true. We give them sticks to beat us.

Correct - if you go to Holland or Belgium, moroccans are just bad news; all the rifrafs from their home countries just give everyone a bad name.

 

[TNT]

I doubt there will be more than few hundred face covering muslim women in Switzerland and they cant even accept that. Such hatred and nareow mindedness from the so called civilized people.
They cant accept our culture and faith even a bit and look at our slave people copying them day and night. Trying hard to become westerners and feel proud. What a shame.

 

[darksider]

Swiss voters approved a proposition Sunday banning facial coverings in public. Niqabs and burqas, worn by almost no one even among the country's Muslim population, will be banned outside of religious institutions. The new law doesn't apply to facial coverings for health reasons.

Switzerland will join several European countries that have implemented a ban on facial coverings, including France, Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria.

The new legislation was brought to the ballot through a people's initiative launched by the nation's right-wing Egerkingen Committee, the same group that led the charge to ban minarets over a decade ago, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation reported. In 2017, the group presented over 100,000 signatures to the government and demanded the issue be brought to a national vote.

The Swiss government opposed the nationwide initiative as excessive and argued such bans should be decided by individual regions, two of which already have a "burqa ban" in place.

The ban barely passed a majority vote, with 51.2% of the Swiss voting in support of the proposal. Only six of the country's cantons, similar to states, voted against the proposition, according to the SBC.

One of the largest backers of the initiative was the nationalist Swiss People's Party, which applauded the outcome of the vote and called the new measure "A strong symbol in the fight against radical political Islam."

"The burqa creates a barrier between the person wearing it and the environment and thus prevents integration into society," Swiss People's Party President Marco Chiesa said in a statement.

Some feminist groups and progressive Muslims reportedly were supporters of the initiative, arguing that full face coverings are oppressive to women.

Other groups felt the new restriction was Islamophobic and that women should not be told what to wear.

The Islamic Central Council of Switzerland said the results were "Islamophobically motivated."

"Today's decision is tearing open old wounds, expanding the principle of legal inequality and sending a clear signal of exclusion to the Muslim minority," the group wrote.

Researchers found that at most a few dozen Muslim women wear full face coverings in Switzerland. About 5% of Switzerland's population of 8.6 million is Muslim, the BBC reported.

Swiss authorities now have two years to draft the legislation, according to The Associated Press.

Switzerland Approves 'Burqa Ban' To Prohibit Some Face Coverings In Public

Swiss voters backed a ban on niqabs and burqas worn by a handful of Muslim women in the country. A Muslim advocacy group called it Islamophobic.

www.npr.org

I am totally cool with that they dont want to see burqa wearing women. it's their country their rules.
But don't cry if we create a rule against their Christian beliefs as a Muslim majority country.

 

[Cliftonite]

Their country, their rules....

Like users here say, liberals and Aurat March folks can leave Pakistan.

Hardline Islamists can leave Switzerland.

Hijab isn't banned. Niqab and the full burqa is. If they had banned Hijab, that would have been a breach of personal liberties. Covering your entire face lest some non Mahram's polluting gaze falls on you does not fit in with Europe's norms. They fought bloody wars to get rid of such dogma.

 

[Dac O Dac]

Their country, their rules....

Like users here say, liberals and Aurat March folks can leave Pakistan.

Hardline Islamists can leave Switzerland.

Hijab isn't banned. Niqab and the full burqa is. If they had banned Hijab, that would have been a breach of personal liberties. Covering your entire face lest some non Mahram's polluting gaze falls on you does not fit in with Europe's norms. They fought bloody wars to get rid of such dogma.

Nothing to add.
I just hope France politic leaders to assume same decision.
We don't need islamists. They can (and have to) leave our old Europe to one of these marvellous 57 country in the world where islam is the official religion.

And sorry if there is no social help and generosity in these country....

 

[Rollno21]

Swiss voters approved a proposition Sunday banning facial coverings in public. Niqabs and burqas, worn by almost no one even among the country's Muslim population, will be banned outside of religious institutions. The new law doesn't apply to facial coverings for health reasons.

Switzerland will join several European countries that have implemented a ban on facial coverings, including France, Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria.

The new legislation was brought to the ballot through a people's initiative launched by the nation's right-wing Egerkingen Committee, the same group that led the charge to ban minarets over a decade ago, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation reported. In 2017, the group presented over 100,000 signatures to the government and demanded the issue be brought to a national vote.

The Swiss government opposed the nationwide initiative as excessive and argued such bans should be decided by individual regions, two of which already have a "burqa ban" in place.

The ban barely passed a majority vote, with 51.2% of the Swiss voting in support of the proposal. Only six of the country's cantons, similar to states, voted against the proposition, according to the SBC.

One of the largest backers of the initiative was the nationalist Swiss People's Party, which applauded the outcome of the vote and called the new measure "A strong symbol in the fight against radical political Islam."

"The burqa creates a barrier between the person wearing it and the environment and thus prevents integration into society," Swiss People's Party President Marco Chiesa said in a statement.

Some feminist groups and progressive Muslims reportedly were supporters of the initiative, arguing that full face coverings are oppressive to women.

Other groups felt the new restriction was Islamophobic and that women should not be told what to wear.

The Islamic Central Council of Switzerland said the results were "Islamophobically motivated."

"Today's decision is tearing open old wounds, expanding the principle of legal inequality and sending a clear signal of exclusion to the Muslim minority," the group wrote.

Researchers found that at most a few dozen Muslim women wear full face coverings in Switzerland. About 5% of Switzerland's population of 8.6 million is Muslim, the BBC reported.

Swiss authorities now have two years to draft the legislation, according to The Associated Press.

Switzerland Approves 'Burqa Ban' To Prohibit Some Face Coverings In Public

Swiss voters backed a ban on niqabs and burqas worn by a handful of Muslim women in the country. A Muslim advocacy group called it Islamophobic.

www.npr.org

I am totally cool with that they dont want to see burqa wearing women. it's their country their rules.
But don't cry if we create a rule against their Christian beliefs as a Muslim majority country.

You don't sound cool though,just saying.
Don't even get started on how minorities are treated in muslim majority countries.

 

[Leishangthem]

I wonder if educated people are also proponents of burqa. And whether those people relishes anime,Hollywood,k-pop,k/j/c -drama ,but apparently there are a lot that do, so I just can't make sense, they are obsessed about entertainment with free women wearing anything they want and styling their hair in anyway as per the latest trend ,yet they take an u turn and tries to ruin similar thing . ... just can't make sense of it .