A country widely known for its neutrality, Switzerland is putting itself in the crosshairs of the debate over the freedoms of religion and expression by banning women from wearing burqas or niqab in public spaces.
By a narrow margin, Swiss voters chose to prohibit people from completely covering their faces on the street, in shops and restaurants, exempting coverage for health and safety reasons, as many around the world continue to use facial coverings to protect themselves. protect against COVID-19. Switzerland did not demand the use of facial coverings until much later than other European countries.
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A video on the Swiss government website explaining the arguments in favor of the ban stated that “religious veils like the burqa or niqab are a symbol of the oppression of women and are not suitable for our society”, according to The Guardian. Religious veils and headdresses are worn by followers of many different practices, including Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism, among others. The burqa or niqab, however, are specific to Islam and have been confused with extremism.
“The public debate that has been taking place in the media and politics in Switzerland since 2006, mostly paints a picture of helpless and ill-integrated women who are forced to cover up completely by their father or husband,” said Andreas Tunger-Zanetti, researcher from the University of Lucerne and coordinator of the Center for Research on Religions, adding that the evidence does not support it.
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Muslims, many of whom come from Turkey, Bosnia and Kosovo, account for about 5% of the 8.6 million Swiss. Of these, a maximum of 37 women in Switzerland wear niqab, a veil that covers the entire face and only leaves the eyes free, and none wear the burqa, a full-length veil, according to a survey of the center. The study also found that those who use niqabs, most of whom are socialized in the West and were not raised as Muslims, do so out of their own belief, with no evidence of a connection to extremism.
“This symbolic policy is directed against Muslim women and men,” the Swiss Federation of Islamic Umbrella Organizations said in a statement. “But it also hurts the whole of Switzerland, which undermined its own values by accepting the initiative.”
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