Just over 51% of Swiss voters cast their ballots in favour of the initiative to ban people from covering their face completely on the street, in shops and restaurants.

Full facial veils will still be allowed to be worn inside places of prayer and for "native customs", such as carnival.

Face coverings worn for health and safety reasons are also exempt from the ban, meaning face masks worn because of the Covid-19 pandemic will not be affected by the new law.

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Their lack of cooperation with the so-called burqa ban made the new legislation largely unworkable on its first day in law.

Under the terms of the Partial Ban on Face-Covering Clothing Act, various forms of headgear are outlawed in public buildings including schools and hospitals and on public transport. There is no prohibition on wearing these items in the street, however.

Ski masks, full-face helmets, balaclavas, niqabs and burqas are all prohibited.

The trouble is, making a decree is one thing, enforcing it is entirely different - especially when the enforcers won't play ball.

The law says people wearing banned clothing can either remove the offending item or, if they refuse, pay a police fine of between €150 and €415.

However, police say enforcing the ban is not a priority and are concerned that veiled women could be put off from entering a police station to make unrelated complaints if they first had to remove their face-coverings.

Furthermore, as the police aren't prepared to back them up on enforcing the ban, transport companies say they won't be asking staff to take on an enforcement role.

"The police have told us the ban is not a priority and that therefore they will not be able to respond inside the usual 30 minutes, if at all," a transport network spokesman says.

"This means that if a person wearing a burqa or a niqab is challenged trying to use a service, our staff will have no police backup to adjudicate on what they should do. It is not up to transport workers to impose the law and hand out fines."

Staff will advise women wearing face-covering clothing of the law but will allow entry.

A local newspaper has waded into the various views on the ban, suggesting people who "bothered" by the wearing of the prohibited clothing could make a citizen's arrest. The national police tweeted their confirmation of this option.

One political party says it will pay niqab wearers' fine and has opened an account where people can deposit money. An Algerian entrepreneur and activist also says he'll cover the costs of fines.

Amsterdam's mayor says the city's authorities are expected to ignore the ban, which Amnesty International says is an infringement of women's right to choose what they wear.

But in 2014 the European human rights court ruled such bans did not violate the European Human Rights Convention.

The Netherlands is the sixth EU country to enact face-covering legislation.

Source

• The Guardian
• Image: Mirror

A ban on Muslim face veils, such as the Arabic-style niqabs that leave the eyes uncovered and Afghan-style burqas that cover the face with a cloth grid, is less likely to go ahead after the government collapsed at the weekend.

The minority Liberal-Christian Democrat coalition's alliance with Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) fell apart when they could not reach agreement on crucial budget cuts. An election has been called for September 12. Continue reading

One of the women pledged immediately to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights to overturn the ban, which President Nicolas Sarkozy says protects women and guarantees equality but opponents argue violates human rights and panders to xenophobia.

The Strasbourg-based European court can consider whether to overturn the French law now that a French court has enforced it. A ruling in Strasbourg could have an impact in other EU countries which are considering similar laws.

"(This) violates European laws. For us the question isn't the amount of the fine but the principle. We can't accept that women are sentenced because they are freely expressing their religious beliefs," Hind Ahmas told reporters outside the court, where she was fined 120 euros (104 pounds).

"We are going to launch the necessary appeals to bring this before the European Court and obtain the cancellation of this law, which is in any case an illegal law," she said.

A second woman, Najate Naitali, was fined 80 euros in absentia by the court in the town of Meaux, northeast of Paris.

In the five months since the ban came into force, several women were asked by police officers to remove veils and one paid a fine issued on the spot, but no court had enforced the law.

The law has been denounced by Muslims abroad as impinging on religious freedom, but has met only a limited backlash in France, a strictly secular country where fewer than 2,000 women out of a 5 million-strong Muslim community hide their faces.

"I still wear the niqab every day and my life has become hell. I am insulted every day," Ahmas said.

Full Article: Reuters Africa

Image: The Telegraph