A French bill to ban full-face veils worn by some Muslim women in public is before parliament today, bringing closer a measure which critics argue is hard to enforce and may be unconstitutional.
Supporters of a ban on full-face veils in France, home to the European Union's largest Muslim minority, argue that wearing garments which hide women's faces violates the republican ideals of secularism and gender equality.
Opponents say only a tiny minority of Muslim women wear the full veil, known as a niqab or burqa, and that the legislation is a step towards tighter restraints on individual freedom.
France already bans Muslim headscarves and other religious symbols from schools.
"It's going to increase feelings of being ostracised in part of the Muslim community, even parts where women don't wear the niqab," said Jean Bauberot, sociologist at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes at Paris' Sorbonne University.
Most voters back a ban, polls have shown, but legal experts warn it could violate the constitution. The Council of State, the top administrative court which advises the government on the preparation of new laws, said in March a ban could be unlawful.
"We were opposed to the veil even before the start of the debate...and we think that a general ban is absolutely not the solution," said Mohammed Moussaoui, president of the French Muslim Council.
Amnesty International called on parliamentarians to reject the ban.
"A total ban on covering the face would violate the rights to freedom of expression and religion of women who wear the burqa or the niqab in public as an expression of their identity or their convictions," John Dalhuisen, expert on discrimination in Europe at Amnesty International, said in a statement.
Parliament
vote on the bill on July 13th.
The government hopes the text will draw broad cross-party support after the opposition Socialists said last week they would not hinder its adoption. If approved, it will be sent to the Senate, the upper house of parliament, in September.
France's five-million strong Muslim community has felt increasingly sidelined in the past year as President Nicolas Sarkozy's government led a public debate over national identity. "It's already been acknowledged that there is a feeling of malaise with Muslims," said Mr Bauberot.
Some women wear the hijab, which covers the head but leaves the face exposed, while a large minority go uncovered. The veil issue has become the focus for a debate about Islam and France's secular system, which separates church and state.
Andre Gerin, a Communist parliamentarian who chaired a public inquiry that recommended the ban, called full-length veils "portable prisons".
The government says hiding one's face is a public security matter. A woman in the western city of Nantes who was driving in a niqab was fined last month for wearing a garment that blocked her lateral vision. The defendant's lawyer accused the police of racial profiling and lodged an appeal.
Critics accuse Mr Sarkozy of exploiting the issue to distract attention from his political woes and record-low approval ratings. Some also argue that a ban could ramp up tensions with Muslim communities at home and abroad.
They cite the risk of social unrest in high-rise suburbs with a heavy immigrant population, growing anti-Muslim feeling and fuelling support for the far-right National Front party. France is the second European country after Belgium to want to ban the wearing of a veil linked to Islam on its own soil.
The debate in Europe has provoked strong reactions in North Africa, where many of France's Muslims trace their origins.