PARIS – European laws on what girls and women wear on their heads are encouraging discrimination against Muslims and against a religion that has been part of Europe’s fabric for centuries, Amnesty International says in a new report.
Extremist political movements targeting Muslim practices for criticism have enjoyed a rise in several European countries – as witnessed by French far right leader Marine Le Pen’s surprisingly strong showing in presidential elections this week.
In that climate, the Amnesty report released Tuesday lists a raft of examples of discrimination against Muslims from Spain to the Netherlands and Turkey, spurred on by laws viewed as anti-Islam.
The report, titled “Choice and Prejudice,” pays special attention to national laws or local rules against wearing headscarves or face-covering Islamic veils. France and Belgium ban them outright, as do some towns in Spain and elsewhere.
“Amnesty International is concerned that states have focused so much in recent years on the wearing of full-face veils, as if this practice were the most widespread and compelling form of inequality women in Europe have to face,” the report says.
Proponents, such as French President Nicolas Sarkozy, say face-covering veils imprison women and violate France’s values of equality. France also bans headscarves in schools.
The niqab, a veil with just a slit for the eyes, and the burqa, with a mesh covering for the eyes, are worn only by a very small minority of European Muslims. But banning them creates an atmosphere of suspicion of anyone with visibly Islamic dress, the Amnesty report says.
It cites French Muslim women who wear headscarves, which cover the hair but leave the face exposed, as saying they have experienced epithets and public pressure since Sarkozy started calling for a face-veil ban.
