Most of you may be familiar with this debate that has divided the international community - should we ban the wearing of full-face veils in public on safety and security grounds, or should people have the right to wear, or not to wear, whatever they want?
I am quite divided over this. My personal view is that the niqab (a piece of cloth tied around the face with slits for the eyes) and the burqa (a long, tent like garment with a mesh panel in front of the face) is that it is a violation of human and women's rights if they are forced, pressured or blackmailed in any way by anyone or anything to wear them against their will. But if women make a concious choice to wear these and other garments, then I believe it is their right to wear whatever they want when and where they chose. I mean, I'm not Muslim and you will probably never see me wearing a niqab, but I believe in free will.
But, there are certain cases when it is not safe, secure or practical to allow the wearing of these garments, which obscure the identity of the wearer almost entirely. Taking of identification photos, when giving evidence in court, stuff like that, it is reasonable to ask women to remove their veils. I mean, anyone could be under that veil - I'm not saying that it is a norm for Muslim women to routinely lie about their identities, but someone else with bad intentions could hide behind a religion they don't respect, take advantage of customs that they don't fully obey.
Wearing veils in occupations which involves mingling with people can make people uncomfortable, but I believe it should not be banned on grounds such as that - perhaps we could suggest women wear something less obstructive, like the khimar, but I think banning full-face veils entirely is a bit extreme.
As I have said over and over, we need to accept that some people are a little different in how they act, dress, look, etc. So am I in support of the burqa ban? Probably not. But I do think that the burqa does raise some questions on how invasive religion should be on our lives, though.
1 comment:
It's a difficult one and indeed, it's impossible to tell who's hiding under all that garment.
Post a Comment