A Swiss woman wearing a niqab distributes fliers to protest against a ban on face-covering garments in public places, in September 2013. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday upheld France's ban on wearing full-face veils in public, rejecting arguments that the ban undermines freedoms of religion and expression.
The decision is a victory for the governments of France and Belgium, which have passed laws prohibiting veils and other garments that conceal the entire face, and gives other European governments broader discretion to enact similar bans. The French government said the three-year ban helped to protect public safety, as well as women forced to wear face-covering garments, but opponents have criticized it as anti-Muslim and discriminating against religious minorities.
The French ban had been challenged by a young Muslim woman who said she sometimes chooses to wear a niqab—a veil that leaves only her eyes visible—or a burqa—a loose garment that covers her entire body with only a mesh over her eyes.
The woman, who was born in France in 1990 and identified only as S.A.S. in court documents, said that she wore the veils voluntarily, without any pressure from her husband and family, and that they allowed her to manifest her faith. She argued the French ban violated her religious freedom and put her at risk of discrimination and harassment.
A woman wearing a niqab poses next to her husband in Paris. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
France passed a law against concealing one's face in public spaces in 2010 and it came into effect the following spring. A few months later, a similar prohibition came into force in Belgium. Citizens of the Ticino canton in Switzerland voted in favor of such a ban in late 2013.
France argues that the veils are a security risk, since they conceal a person's identity. In its arguments to the European court, the French government also said that showing one's face in public was one of the "minimum requirements of life in society."
The Strasbourg-based court ruled the general ban imposed by the government wasn't justified on public-safety grounds, or to protect women's rights. But it said France's aim of improving social cohesion through the ban was legitimate.
"The court was…able to accept that the barrier raised against others by a veil concealing the face was perceived by the respondent state as breaching the right of others to live in a space of socialization which made living together easier," it said.
Civil and human-rights groups swiftly rejected the ruling, which can't be appealed. "Coming at a time when hostility to ethnic and religious minorities is on the rise in many parts of Europe, the court's decision is an unfortunate missed opportunity to reaffirm the importance of equal treatment for all and the fundamental right to religious belief and expression," said James A. Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative, which filed a third-party intervention in the case. "The majority has failed adequately to protect the rights of many women who wish to express themselves by what they wear."
Although the French law affects only a tiny minority of the country's 5 million Muslims, it has increased tensions, said Elsa Ray, spokeswoman for the Muslim advocacy group CCIF.
"Some people now feel entitled to attack women wearing the veil even though the infringement is no more severe than, say, a parking ticket," she said.
Romain Nadal, a spokesman for France's foreign ministry, said the government was satisfied with the ruling, which he said reflected France's commitment to gender equality.
Women who get caught wearing a burqa or niqab risk a €150 ($205) fine and can be ordered to take a class on the country's republican values. According to the French interior ministry, several hundred women have been fined for wearing full-face veils since 2011. Very few have been forced to attend the value classes.
Tony Muman, one of the Muslim woman's lawyers, said his client was disappointed by the decision. "The client will continue to act lawfully as she always has done and respect the court's judgment," he added.
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