Burqa

The burqa (actually Burqu, from Arabic برقع, DMG burqu ʿ, plural براقع / barāqi ʿ, in Pakistan as Barqa ) is a garment that serves the complete concealment of the body. The burqa is worn by many Muslim women in Afghanistan and one of the women in Pakistan and other Muslim countries.

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Afghanistan

The Afghan burqa (full body veil in Afghanistan called چادرى Tschaderi and the headscarf as چادر Tschadar ) consists of a large cloth in which a flat cap is sewn up. In the area of the eye is a window in which a kind of grid is used in cloth or horsehair. The face is completely covered by the Afghan burqa. The asymmetrical material falls back down to the bottom and front to the waist. The garment came about when the body of a veil with a face veil.

Afghan burqas today are usually blue, but also in other colors (black, green, orange or white) manufactured and are partially embroidered elaborately. Originally, the Afghan burqa was worn only in the city. In the village the veiling was uncommon. Before the Taliban generally made ​​the wearing of the burqa compulsory, was a rather rare blue color. The (initially more expensive) blue burqa developed for Afghan women under the Taliban express one of the few ways social status through clothing. This fashion was soon imitated by less affluent women, so this color now dominates.

After the fall of the Taliban government in December 2001 (see War in Afghanistan since 2001) the burqa requirement was lifted, yet dare still few women to leave the house without a burqa, mainly out of concern for their personal safety and their reputation. The burqa is a welcome means to disguise their own destitution. The burqa is worn for religious reasons and traditional tribalism.

Pakistan

Pakistani burqas leave the eyes free. It is basically a shoulder-length triangular scarf that covers the hair, another piece of fabric is mounted so that the lower half of the face is covered up to the nose. This is comparatively convenient because it can be removed if necessary (eg when eating ) completely remove without the burqa.

Syria

In Syria, burqas are banned at teachers and students at universities in July 2010 in the education sector.

Israel

In Israel, especially in the ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood in Jerusalem, there is vollverschleierte Jewish.

Burqa in Europe

The burqa is repeatedly condemned in the public debate as a " symbol of oppression of women." As with the headscarf issue, so is controversial even in the burqa, whether the public wearing of the burqa be banned by laws and regulations or whether it should be allowed in the context of freedom of religion or even should.

The decision of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives on 29 April 2010 ( see below) has been commented in Europe by numerous pages.

Two examples: One of the Vice- President of the European Parliament, Silvana Koch -Mehrin, wrote in a newspaper commentary: I welcome this [ Belgian ] decision very explicitly. I hope that even in Germany - and Europe - the wearing of all forms of the burqa is prohibited. Who veiled women, deprives them of the face and thus their personality. The burqa is a massive attack on the rights of women, it is a mobile prison. The full veiling of women is an intrusive commitment to values ​​that we do not share in Europe. And I freely admit: If I meet on the road full of disguised people, I 'm irritated. I can not judge who is using which intention will happen to me there. I'm not afraid, but I'm unsure. Nobody should be restricted in his personal liberty and in his religion. Freedom should not go so far but that one takes the public face people. At least not in Europe.

Amnesty International called the Belgian vote (see below "Belgium" ) a " dangerous precedent "; a complete ban on the veil the face would violate the fundamental rights of women who wear the full-body veil as an expression of their identity and their faith. The expert Amnesty for discrimination issues said: "Limitations of human rights must always be proportional to a legitimate aim. A complete ban on veils that cover the whole face, it would not. "

Germany

2006 caused a sensation that two students to waive ( a comprehensive school in Bonn) for their refusal, on their obfuscation in school two weeks were suspended from school long. First, the school principal called the robes of the two students " burqas "; A few days later he corrected this; it was stated that the garments to niqab.

The then Federal President Horst Köhler announced on 11 May 2010, the weekly newspaper Rhenish Mercury on the occasion of the second Ecumenical Church Congress an interview. On the subject of the burqa Köhler said:

" Yourself to face with an open face, corresponds to our enlightened, free society. The burqa is contrary to my understanding of the equality of women and their freedom of choice. But I advise also to not ideologically to have this discussion, but educate, to lead discussions and in particular to facilitate encounters between Muslims and Christians. If some women in Germany still want to wear the burqa, I see this as yet no reason to call for a burqa ban. "

As part of the integration debate (which entails the fall of 2010 by the appearance of Thilo Sarrazin's book, Germany was off fueled ) said Alice Schwarzer in a book entitled The Great Obfuscation out against "apparent strangers love", false tolerance and cowardice and called the burqa as " barbaric". Their statements are disputed.

One municipal employees in Frankfurt, which then first appeared bareheaded in a headscarf to work and finally decided after her maternity leave, fully veiled in burkas to work, this was in 2011 forbidden. Then she decided to voluntarily resign from the employment relationship.

The Hessian state government issued because of the case on February 2, 2011, a burqa ban in public service.

Also Lower Saxony wants (as of February 2011; CDU - FDP coalition / Cabinet McAllister ) prohibit the wearing of full-body veils in government offices and agencies. Lower Saxony Interior Minister Uwe Schünemann former said the burqa have no place in public service. In the absence of a federal law to check " currently own statutory scheme for both the employees and officials ". Wearing a burqa in a public office, overstepping the principle of tolerance, said Lower Saxony former Minister of Social Affairs, Women, Family, Health and Integration Aygül Özkan ( CDU). The citizen must be able to have the right to have an administration also show face. Since February 2013 Lower Saxony is ruled by a red-green coalition (Cabinet Weil) under Prime Minister Stephen Weil.

Austria

Austria is considering since the fall of 2009, a ban on the burqa.

In Vorarlberg Landtag deputies requested:

The Vorarlberg Landtag may resolve: " The State Government of Vorarlberg is invited to work with the federal government that the National Council, a government bill is passed to a ban on the wearing of the burqa in public spaces concerning. "

Switzerland

In Switzerland, Muslim women must cover up head and body completely. The Swiss Federal Council rejected a 2007 ban request with reference to the freedom of religion from .. The community Grenchen announced that fully veiled people while appearing on the Tax Office and with the residents would no longer be served because they could not identify. On 4 May 2010 the Aargau cantonal parliament submitted a cantonal initiative, which calls for a ban on the burqa.

On September 22, 2013, the voters of the canton of Ticino decided in a referendum, the cantonal constitution to expand a clause which states: . "No one shall cover his face on public streets and squares or hide No one is allowed another person because of their gender force them to cover their faces. "

Belgium

In 2004, the wearing of the burqa was banned in the Belgian city of Antwerp. If, after a reference to the mummery the request of the police are not followed, can be fined. On 29 April 2010, the Belgian Chamber of Representatives approved ( unanimously with two abstentions) a law that bans the wearing of burqas and niqabs in Belgium. This Decision shall enter into force, although the Belgian Senate agrees. Due to the elections on 13 May 2010, the decision (as well as all other uncompleted decisions) has become obsolete; that is the legislative process had to completely start over. In May 2011, the legislative process was completed in Parliament. The Senate was the deadline for re-examining the template to pass without intervention. In Belgium, wearing the full veil burqa and niqab in public is therefore prohibited. With offenses fines of up to seven days in jail or simple fines 15-25 euros. The politician Filip Dewinter of the extreme right party Vlaams Belang began in June 2012 from a premium of 250 euros for citizens who complain about a burqa wearer to the police. In December 2012, the Belgian Constitutional Court declared the burqa ban is constitutional.

Netherlands

The Netherlands are considering, since Theo van Gogh ( film director ) was murdered in broad daylight in November 2004 by an Islamic fundamentalist, a ban on the burqa.

In September 2009, the Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen suggested ( PvdA), who can not find work because of wearing a burqa, should not be entitled to unemployment benefits. Dutch media reported that its proposal find broad parliamentary support. The right-wing liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( VVD ) stated that a stop unemployment benefits for Veiled did not go far enough. The burqa - wearing in public should be banned altogether. Since the spring of 2010, several bills are prepared to ban the full-face veil. The proposed bans are intended to cover, inter alia, schools and public services. In January 2012, the ban on full-face veil in public, it was decided by the incumbent center-right government, ie by the Cabinet; so that the law gained effectiveness, the Parliament, however, would confirm it.

France

In France, the largest Muslim community lives (more than five million people ) in the European Union. According to reports by the French domestic intelligence agency in 2009 contributed throughout France 2000 women a burqa; another source lists 367 women.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced on 22 June 2009 at a joint meeting of both the French parliament in a speech on the state of the nation: "It is intolerable that women in prison live in our country in fabric, without identity and without social Contact. That's not France's image of the dignity of women " (literally. " Signe d' asservissement » de la femme, la « burqa n'est pas la bienvenue sur le territoire de la République française » ...« Nous ne pouvons pas accepter dans notre pays des femmes prisonnières derrière un grillage, coupées de toute vie sociale, privées de toute identité. Ce n'est pas l' idée que la République française se fait de la dignité de la femme "..." Le Parlement de va se saisir cette question pour un organizer débat et à tous les points de permettre vue de s'exprimer ").

A bipartisan commission of inquiry of the French National Assembly recommended in January 2010, a complete ban on veiling in public institutions. Wearers of the burqa or niqab should be of no longer served in schools, hospitals, post offices and government agencies. Women who insist on a veiling her face, should also not require a visa for France still get the citizenship may assume. Men who force their women to wear the burqa should be able to be punished. The French Socialists did not participate in the final vote on the report; in the other parties the Commission's proposals are mainly supported. The French Cabinet brought the bill on May 28, 2010 on the way. On 13 July 2010, Parliament passed a law that bans the wearing of nationwide burqas. Women who violate the ban will have to pay 150 euro fine or attend an integration course. Men who force women to wear a burqa, could face up to 30,000 euro fine and a year in prison. The Act came into force on 11 April 2011.

The burqa ban was led by terrorists Mohammed Merah as one of the motives for his series of attacks in Midi -Pyrénées in March 2012, the largest in the country since 1995.

United Kingdom

In July 2010, deputies brought the Conservative Party ( Tories ) a bill to the House, which wants to ban the full-face veil in Britain. Prime Minister David Cameron rejects this, as well, other senior politicians as the Muslim Minister Sajeeda Warsi spoke out against the initiative.

Spain

In June 2010, the Senate approved a ban on wearing the burqa in public in Spain. A motion by the opposition Partido Popular ( " People's" ) was adopted by a majority vote of two ( 131:129 ). Yet there is no general burqa ban, the bill has not yet been signed. Some cities have banned the burqa on their own, among them Lerida, but bans could not come into force as in Reus, because a simple majority for such a decision is not sufficient.