Opinion polls suggest a majority of Swiss will back the face veil ban and campaigners argue that it’s about Islamophobia and controlling women in the public sphere.
Switzerland will vote on March 7 in a public referendum on whether to ban the niqab, burqa and other full-face coverings which critics slam as “deeply racist and sexist” for singling out and targetting Muslim women and violating basic human rights.
The niqab, a face covering, is a form of religious practice observed by some Muslim women. Most of the niqab-wearers in Switzerland are tourists who come to the Alpine country for vacation, which prompted the Swiss government in January to urge voters to reject the ban.
“Very few people in Switzerland wear a full facial covering,” the government said in a statement. The estimated total number of niqab wearers in Switzerland ranges from 36 to 130 individuals.
“A nationwide ban would undermine the sovereignty of the cantons, damage tourism and be unhelpful for certain groups of women.”
Meriam Mastour, membre du collectif Les Foulards Violets et de la Grève des femmes (@FeministeGreve), partage sa perspective sur l’initiative anti-#burqa. ✏️A lire ??https://t.co/rayuxM6iMf ou ? (ré)écouter sur Spotify ??https://t.co/xDSpRJOcbE. pic.twitter.com/AlceSS58a4
— Amnesty Suisse (@Amnesty_Suisse) February 28, 2021
The “certain groups of women” are Muslims.
While the government opposes it on economic grounds, campaigners argue that it’s more about Islamophobia and controlling women in the public sphere.
“[It is] sexist, because on the one hand, we want to control women's bodies and, on the other, we deny their capacity for self-determination. [It is] racist, because it is stigmatizing against Muslims in Switzerland,” said Meriam Mastour, lawyer and member of the Les Foulards Violets, a Muslim feminist collective in Switzerland, who has been campaigning against the ban.
According to 20 Minuten and Tamedia, media companies that conduct regular polls on the topics of national referenda, those who support the ban are still leading, but the lead is getting smaller.
Based on the latest polls conducted last week, those rejecting the ban on the veil have grown by 6 percentage points since the previous poll on February 10.
However, 59 percent of those eligible to vote still support the ban.
“Despite the falling support, the adoption of the initiative remains likely, according to the forecasting model, which includes historical data and previous polls.” it says
This is echoed by the Swiss Public Broadcasting Corporation, which suggests the ban may go through easily without a “political upset”, “as anti-Islamic sentiment is no longer taboo”.
Switzerland would not be the first European country to crack down on the religious freedoms and dress of Muslim women: France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Latvia, and Bulgaria have all passed legislations targeting Muslim women’s dress in particular.
“Just the first step”
Campaigners fear that the passage of the ban will have reverberating consequences for the Muslim community. “These guys [the SVP] have been saying that this is just the first step. I think there’s going to be an increase of legislation or attempt to get legislation through that is targeting Muslims [if the ban goes through],” explains an anti-ban organiser in Switzerland who wanted only to be identified as K. Ahmed due to fears about repercussions.
“Don’t forget that this the second piece of legislation that they want to get into the constitution of the country targeting the Muslim community.”
The niqab ban was initiated by the Egerkingen Committee, formed in 2007 by a group of extreme right-wing politicians from the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), the leading far-right party of Switzerland.
The Egerkingen Committee spearheaded the controversial campaign to ban minarets over a decade ago, which passed with over a 57 percent vote among those who voted in 2009. The SVP called for a ban of the niqab, or face veil soon thereafter.
In 2016, the Egerkingen Committee started collecting signatures as part of a face-veil ban campaign. Switzerland’s system of direct democracy allows for referenda for proposed changes to the constitution if supporters collect more than 100,000 signatures.
The ban was rejected by the government in 2018, and by the national parliament in 2020. However, a ban on face coverings was instituted in the cantons of Ticino and St. Gallen, where the ban came into effect in 2016 and 2018, respectively.
Data from Ticino within the first two years of the ban showed that it was masked football fans that were hit the hardest by the ban.
But for campaigners, it’s not about the numbers, but about the future of the rights and freedoms of Muslims.
“The debates on the minarets and the burqa systematically spill over into the question of the headscarf and extremism,” explained Mastour. “This is a pretext for, in the near or distant future, to pass laws that will directly attack the freedom of belief and worship of Muslims.”
Supporters of the campaign argued that banning face coverings could prevent “threats” to “public security” and “terrorism”, but wearing masks is compulsory in Switzerland as protective measures against the coronavirus pandemic, as they are in many countries right now.
Many have pointed out the situation as hypocritical.
“The majority of the Swiss population, until recently, could not understand that one makes the choice to cover the face. Today, we are all masked in our social interactions. This example shows that the vision we have of a garment or an attitude depends on the social, cultural and health context in which we evolve,” said Mastour.
“Failure to understand a person's choice should not necessarily render it invalid or allow it to be repressed.”
This article has been adapted from its original source.
