Those “certain groups of women” are Muslim women.

It is ironic that the vote will take place on the eve of International Women’s Day on March 8, which strives for a gender-equal world. Removing a Muslim woman’s right to wear a face veil is not equality.

Why should a Muslim woman who chooses to cover her face because of her faith not be allowed to do so? People of different faiths adhere to different dress codes, yet it is Muslim women who bear the brunt of this policing around the world.

Switzerland is far from the first country to propose laws limiting Muslim women’s choice of attire: France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Latvia, Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, Republic of the Congo, Chad, Gabon and Sri Lanka all have laws prohibiting the wearing of religious face coverings. These bans are called a “security measure,” even though women’s role throughout history in political violence is not linked to the clothing they wore.

Source: Washington Post

Burqas and niqabs will be prohibited in selected professions as part of the legislation, which will not come into effect until being approved by the Bundesrat state parliament.

Thomas de Maiziere, the German interior minister, argued that the ban was compatible with integration as debate continues over the arrival of more than a million asylum seekers in the country. “Integration also means that we should make clear and impart our values and where the boundaries of our tolerance towards other cultures lie,” he said.  “The draft law we have agreed on makes an important contribution to that.”

Some right-wing politicians have called for a full ban on the burqa in public, which has been imposed in France and Belgium, but Mr de Maiziere said the move would be incompatible with Germany’s constitution.

The new law will require government employees to show their faces, as well as giving authorities the power to check women’s identities in elections.

It was opposed by politicians from the left-wing Die Linke and Die Grünen parties, who dismissed the legislation as a “purely symbolic policy” pandering to the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) ahead of September’s elections.

Critics argued that burqa-wearing soldiers and officials do not actually exist, making the new rules redundant, and said they will worsen tensions.

Angela Merkel announced her support for the move in December, saying full-face veils were “not acceptable in Germany” and calling them to be banned “wherever it is legally possible”.

Source: The Independent

The Swiss Council of Religions welcomed the news, saying the proposed body would help cantonal authorities faced with important religious issues, reported the Tribune. It’s not the first time a religious affairs office has been suggested. Back in 2010 a similar project was rejected, with opponents feeling Switzerland already had enough structure in place to deal with questions of religious freedom. However since then religious issues have created tension in the country on a number of occasions. In 2014 a pupil took her a school to court after it banned her from wearing the Islamic headscarf in class, a decision overturned by the St Gallen court…

The religious make-up of Switzerland has evolved over the past 40 years, according to a 2015 census. Of a percentage of the permanent resident population, the number of Catholics slightly decreased from 46 percent to 37 percent, while the number of Protestants fell more dramatically, from 48 percent to 24 percent. The number of Muslims rose from 0.2 percent in 1970 to 5.1 percent in 2015. Meanwhile there are more atheists in Switzerland than ever, up from 1.2 percent in 1970 to 23.9 percent in 2015.

Source: The Local (ch)