f Uncovering French and Belgian Face Covering Bans

References

1.  R. Owen, “Italian police fine woman for wearing burqa in public”, The Times, 5 May 2010.
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2.  W. Fautré, supra note 16.
3.  C. Gabizon, “Sarkozy : ‘la burqa n’est pas la bienvenue’”, Le Figaro, 26 June 2009 (our translation).
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4.  Constitutional Court 6 December2012, no. 145/2012. See, extensively, on the ruling: L. Lauvrysen & E. Brems, “Redding boerkaverbod leidt tot rare kronkels”, Recht, Religie en Samenleving 2013 (forthcoming); J. Vrielink, “Het bedekte gelaat van de Belgische Grondwet. Het Belgisch Grondwettelijk Hof en het ‘boerkaverbod’”, Nederlands Tijdschrift voor de Mensenrechten 2013, vol. 38, no. 2, 251-267. For brief summaries, see J. Flo & J. Vrielink, “The Constitutionality of the Belgian Burqa Ban”, openDemocracy.net, 14 January 2013; S. Ouald Chaib, “Belgian Constitutional Court Says Ban on Face Coverings Does Not Violate Human Rights”, Strasbourgobservers.com, 14 December 2012.
5.  Prior to this, in2003, the issue of the face veil had attracted some media attention when a school banned students from wearing it (A. Moors, “The Dutch and the Face-veil: The Politics of Discomfort”, Social Anthropology/Antropologie Sociale 2009, no. 4, 396).
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9.  A. Gérin, supra note 54, 67-69 and 81-84. At the same time, of course, in most of the countries in which the issue has led to debate (or even legislation), face veils are extremely rare as well.
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11.  Conseil d’Etat, supra note 28, 30-35.
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17.  French Council of State, supra note 28, 26.
18.  A. Gérin, supra note 54, 93-94.
19.  EComHR, 22 October1998, Kara v. the United Kingdom.
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22.  See, e.g. ECtHR, 10 November2005, Leyla Sahin v. Turkey, §78; and ECtHR, 7 December 2010, Jakóbski v. Poland, §44-45.
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24.  ECtHR, 8 July2008, Vajnai v. Hungary, §57. See also on this case, Section 4.3 below.
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29.  See also A. Moors, supra note 40, 403.
30.  ECtHR, 8 July2008, Vajnai v. Hungary, §52 (arguing that “this star also still symbolises the international workers’ movement, struggling for a fairer society, as well [as] certain lawful political parties active in different Member States”). Mutatis mutandis, the same is true even more for face veils. In this sense, see, e.g., S. Hussein, “Looking In or Looking Out? Stories On the Multiple Meanings of Veiling”, T. Dreher and C. Ho (eds.), Beyond the Hijab Debates: New Conversations on Gender, Race and Religion, Newscastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009, 81-89; M. Williamson and G. Khiabany, “UK: the Veil and the Politics of Racism”, Race & Class 2010, in particular 89-91 (on the “multiple meanings of veiling”) See extensively on the issue of banning face veils for “symbolic” reasons J. Vrielink, “Symptomatic Symbolism. Banning the burqa ‘as a symbol’”, in E. Brems (ed.), The Face Veil in Europe Inside and Out, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press (forthcoming).
31.  ECtHR, 8 July2008, Vajnai v. Hungary, §55.
32.  ETC, 6 September2000, opinion 2000-63, §4.9. But see also: ETC, 20 March 2003, opinion 2003-40.
33.  A. Gérin, supra note 54, 29.
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