Switzerland Bans the Burka

It is a national security issue.

Voters in Switzerland narrowly voted to adopt a measure banning facial coverings in public spaces.

More than 51% of Swiss voters voted to adopt the ban, which is estimated to affect only a handful of the nation’s citizens.

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The new guidance, adopted five years after the measure was first proposed, forbids niqabs and burqas, religious garb often worn by Muslim women, as well as the ski masks and bandannas often worn by protesters, in public spaces such as restaurants and public transportation, according to the Associated Press. Exemptions will be allowed for places of worship, and masks designed to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 may still be used.

Swiss voters on course to back public ‘burqa ban’

By: i24NEWS – AFP, March 07, 2021, 11:06 AM

A 2019 Federal Statistical Office survey found that 5.5 percent of the Swiss population were Muslims

Swiss voters seemed on course Sunday to narrowly back a ban on full facial coverings in public places, with most referendum ballots counted.

With results in from 22 of federal Switzerland’s 26 cantons, 54 percent of voters were in favor of outlawing the burqa and the niqab.

The so-called anti-burqa vote comes after years of debate in Switzerland following similar bans in other European countries — and in some Muslim-majority states — despite women in Islamic full-face veils being an exceptionally rare sight in Swiss streets.

Even though the proposal “Yes to a ban on full facial coverings” did not mention the burqa or the niqab — which leaves only the eyes uncovered — there was no doubt as to what the debate was about.

Campaign posters reading “Stop radical Islam!” and “Stop extremism!”, featuring a woman in a black niqab, have been plastered around Swiss cities.

Rival posters read: “No to an absurd, useless and Islamophobic ‘anti-burqa’ law.”

The ban would mean that nobody could cover their face completely in public — whether in shops or the open countryside. But there would be exceptions, including for places of worship.

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A 2019 Federal Statistical Office survey found that 5.5 percent of the Swiss population were Muslims, mostly with roots in the former Yugoslavia.

Within Europe, Switzerland’s neighbors France and Austria have banned full-face coverings, as have Belgium, Bulgaria, and Denmark. The Swiss government and parliament opposed a nationwide ban.

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