HUMANITARIAN

Swiss Muslims will fight results of vote to ban full facial coverings

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Elizabeth Quinn

21st March 2021

 

Swiss Muslims will fight the results of the recent vote to ban full facial coverings in public places, according to the Islamic Central Council for Muslims in Switzerland (ICCS.)

 

Janina Rashidi, press officer for the organization, says about the results “This decision opens up old wounds, further expands the principle of legal inequality and sends a clear signal of exclusion to the Muslim minority.”

 

“There is no doubt that the basic attitude of the voting population has deteriorated even further since the minaret referendum in 2009.”

 

”The ICCS has opened a donation pool to pay the fines of those women that will be affected by the ban and to take every possible legal remedy to fight against this law – if necessary until the European Court for Human Rights.”

 

Twelve years ago, in 2009, Switzerland voted to ban the building of minarets, a slender tower in a mosque from which the Muslim call to prayer is issued.

 

“[ICCS] said the recent vote was a result of Islamophobia growing in the country since 2015, the same year one million Syrian refugees were taken in by neighbouring country Germany.”

 

ICCS say they assume that the ban cannot be enforced until laws have been implemented at a “canton”, or county, level. They say that until then nothing will change for women who wear the niqab or burqa.

 

In a press release on Monday the organization said the recent vote was a result of Islamophobia growing in the country since 2015, the same year one million Syrian refugees were taken in by neighboring country Germany.

 

The University of Lucerne in Switzerland put the number of women in Switzerland who wear the niqab at between 21 and 37.

 

Jasmina Kid of the Muslim Sisters of Eire says “The ruling will stigmatise and create a divide between Swiss Muslims and the general population. This very policy will undermine the European values of freedom, democracy as well as women’s rights after the world has recognized international women’s day.”

 

“The absurdity of banning any face veil, masks or coverings during a pandemic is allowing identity politics to monopolize on health policy and determine what a ‘socially acceptable’ face veil is.”

 

The ban passed by a slim majority. 51.2% of voters, or 1.4 million, voted in favour of the ban. 18 of Switzerland’s 26 counties had a majority ‘yes’ result.

 

Niqabs and burqas will still be allowed in places of worship.

 

The ban was proposed by Switzerland’s national-conservative, right wing populist party, the SVP (Schweizerische Volkspartei) or “Swiss People’s Party” in English.

 

Photo by yc4646 on Flickr

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