{"id":87934,"date":"2019-04-29T16:56:56","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T23:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=87934"},"modified":"2019-04-29T16:56:56","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T23:56:56","slug":"sri-lanka-attacks-where-else-in-the-world-have-face-coverings-been-banned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/04\/29\/sri-lanka-attacks-where-else-in-the-world-have-face-coverings-been-banned\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka attacks: Where else in the world have face coverings been banned?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>By Samiha Nettikkara Courtesy BBC<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/660\/cpsprodpb\/13F8C\/production\/_106640818_gettyimages-1045087164.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a niqab looks on during a protest by a French-Algerian businessman and political activist, on October 3, 2018 in St. Gallen by following a massive vote in the Swiss northeastern canton of St. Gallen to prohibit all face-covering garments in public spaces.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A ban on face coverings in public has come into effect in Sri Lanka, following a series of suicide attacks on Easter Sunday, in which at least 250 people were killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Any face garment that &#8220;hinders identification&#8221; was being banned to ensure national security, the office of President Maithripala Sirisena said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-48088834\">Sri Lanka attacks: Face coverings banned<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/newsround\/24118241\">Hijab, niqab, burka: Guide to Muslim headscarves<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Those who support the ban say it&#8217;s vital for public safety and encourages assimilation of ethnic and religious minorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But rights groups say it discriminates against Muslim women, some of whom view these garments as a religious obligation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where else in the world has adopted similar bans?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Europe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>France<\/strong>&nbsp;was the first European country to ban the full-face Islamic veil in public places, in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ban was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights in July 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A ban against a full-face veil led to protests in&nbsp;<strong>Denmark<\/strong>&nbsp;when it came into effect, in August 2018. The law says that &#8220;anyone who wears a garment that hides the face in public&#8221; will have to pay 1,000 krone (\u00a3118; $157), with fines 10 times higher for repeat offenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Senate in the&nbsp;<strong>Netherlands<\/strong>&nbsp;passed a law in June 2018 banning face coverings in public buildings such as schools and hospitals, and on public transport. It does not apply on public streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;<strong>Germany<\/strong>&nbsp;it&#8217;s illegal to have any face coverings while driving. Germany&#8217;s lower house of parliament has also approved a partial ban for judges, civil servants and soldiers. Women wearing a full-face veil are also required to uncover their faces for identification purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A ban on full-face veils in public spaces such as courts and schools came into force in&nbsp;<strong>Austria<\/strong>&nbsp;in October 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A law banning the full-face veil came into effect in&nbsp;<strong>Belgium<\/strong>&nbsp;in July 2011. The law bans any clothing that obscures the identity of the wearer in places such as parks and on the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/1485C\/production\/_83706048_2_niqab_290-1.gif\" alt=\"Woman wearing a Niqab\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/16F6C\/production\/_83706049_3_burka_290-1.gif\" alt=\"Woman wearing a Burka\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A bill was passed in&nbsp;<strong>Norway<\/strong>&nbsp;in June 2018 banning clothing covering the face from being worn at educational institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bulgaria<\/strong>&#8216;s parliament passed a bill in 2016 to fine and cut the benefits of women who cover their faces in public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are also some restrictions in&nbsp;<strong>Luxembourg<\/strong>, in specific public locations such as hospitals, courts and public buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some European countries have bans in specific cities or regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This includes&nbsp;<strong>Italy<\/strong>, where several towns have bans on face-covering veils, including Novara, run by the anti-immigration Northern League, which imposed its ban in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;<strong>Spain<\/strong>, the city of Barcelona announced a ban on face coverings in 2010, in some public spaces such as municipal offices, public markets and libraries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Face veils are also banned in public areas in some regions of&nbsp;<strong>Switzerland<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/AE6D\/production\/_106635644_180947444.jpg\" alt=\"A veiled women hands out leaflets in Switzerland against the banning of face-covering headgear in public places.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2015, multiple suicide bombings by women wearing full-face veils in the region prompted full-face coverings to be banned in public places in&nbsp;<strong>Chad<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Gabon<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Cameroon<\/strong>&#8216;s northern region,&nbsp;<strong>Niger<\/strong>&#8216;s Diffa region and the&nbsp;<strong>Republic of Congo<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;<strong>Algeria<\/strong>, public officials have been banned from wearing full-face veils in the workplace since October 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">China<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-china-39460538\">wearing of veils in public places &#8211; and &#8220;abnormally&#8221; long beards &#8211; are prohibited<\/a>&nbsp;in China&#8217;s Xinjiang region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Xinjiang is home to ethnic Uighur Muslims, who say they face discrimination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The region has seen violent clashes, which the government blames on Islamist militants<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Samiha Nettikkara Courtesy BBC A ban on face coverings in public has come into effect in Sri Lanka, following a series of suicide attacks on Easter Sunday, in which at least 250 people were killed. Any face garment that &#8220;hinders identification&#8221; was being banned to ensure national security, the office of President Maithripala Sirisena [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87934\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}