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发帖数: 29846 | 1 Dutch govt eyes limited ban on face-covering clothing
By MIKE CORDER | May 22, 2015 | 4:15 PM EDT
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch government announced plans Friday
to introduce a limited ban on "face-covering clothing," widely interpreted
as a new attempt to outlaw burqas, the head-to-toe Islamic robe worn by only
a few hundred women in this European nation of 17 million.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte said his ruling coalition has drawn up a proposal
aimed at banning people from wearing clothing that obscures the face on
public transport and in schools, government buildings and medical
institutions. The proposal will be sent to a panel of legal advisers for
assessment. The panel, the Council of State, was heavily critical in 2012 of
an attempt by the government to ban burqas, saying it breached religious
freedom provisions in the Dutch constitution.
Rutte insisted the latest move is not targeting any particular religious
group and will not go as far as the earlier attempt at a general ban on
burqas.
"It has nothing to do with religion or what people do in their own homes,"
he said.
Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk said people "can still walk along the
street in a burqa," but added they would have to remove it to get onto a bus.
France in 2011 became the first country in Europe to enact a law forbidding
face-covering veils anywhere in public.
The Dutch Muslim women's organization Al Nisa, which has lobbied against any
kind of burqa ban, saying the proposal is not tackling a serious problem in
society but reacting to fears.
"Fear that threatens to manifest itself against anything that we find
different or strange," the group said in a statement. "And that while the
Netherlands was known for her tolerance and level-headedness." |
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