Activists slam Denmark for ban on Muslim face veil

Copenhagen, Jun 1: Denmark on Thursday became the latest European country to ban the Islamic full-face veil in public spaces in a move slammed by human rights campaigners as "a violation of women's rights".

"Anyone who wears a garment that hides the face in public will be punished with a fine," says the law, which was passed by 75 votes to 30 in the Danish parliament.

Presented by the centre-right government, the legislation was also backed by the Social Democrats and the far-right Danish People's Party.

The new rule will take effect on August 1.

Wearing a burqa, which covers a person's entire face, or the niqab, which only shows the eyes, in public will lead to a fine of 1,000 kroner ($156).

The ban also targets other accessories that hide the face such as balaclavas and false beards. Repeated violations will be fined up to 10,000 kroner.

It is not known how many women wear the niqab and burqa in Denmark. "I don't think there are many who wear the burqa here in Denmark. But if you do, you should be punished with a fine," Justice Minister Soren Pape Poulsen was quoted as saying by Ritzau news agency in February.

Supporters argue the ban enables better integration of Muslim immigrants into Danish society.

But Amnesty International condemned the law as a "discriminatory violation of women's rights", especially against Muslim women who choose to wear the full-face veils.

"Whilst some specific restrictions on the wearing of full-face veils for the purposes of public safety may be legitimate, this blanket ban is neither necessary nor proportionate and violates the rights to freedom of expression and religion," the organisation's Europe director Gauri van Gulik said in a statement following the vote.

"If the intention of this law was to protect women's rights, it fails abjectly. Instead, the law criminalises women for their choice of clothing and in so doing flies in the face of those freedoms Denmark purports to uphold," she added.

The full-face veil is a hot-button issue across Europe.

Last year, the European Court of Human Rights upheld a Belgian ban on wearing it in public.

France was the first European country to ban the niqab in public places with a law that took effect in 2011.

German lawmakers approved a partial ban on "covering the face" last year.

According to that legislation, civil servants and officials including judges and soldiers must have their faces uncovered. People can also be required to remove facial coverings in order to match them with their identity papers.