European Court of Human Rights rules on French veil ban

[CoteDAzur]

European Court of Human Rights ruled has upheld a law in France that bans Muslim women covering their faces with veils while in public places.

The ruling came after a woman brought a case arguing her freedom of religion was being violated.

The Strasbourg-based court's ruling was the first of its kind since France passed the law in 2010.

The law, which came into effect in 2011, forbids anyone from hiding his or her face in a range of public places, including the street.

A statement said: "The Court was also able to understand the view that individuals might not wish to see, in places open to all, practices or attitudes which would fundamentally call into question the possibility of open interpersonal relationships, which, by virtue of an established consensus, formed an indispensable element of community life within the society in question.

"The Court was therefore able to accept that the barrier raised against others by a veil concealing the face was perceived by the respondent State as breaching the right of others to live in a space of socialisation which made living together easier."

The worst that a veil does socially is make it harder for relationships to be formed in public. Which isn't a small thing. I think there is islamophobia mixed into this, but I also think there is a more fundamental issue about how public life is viewed that is at stake. In many ways the French have a different view to public and private life to the British - it is considered more of an obligation. A way in which the nation and society are affirmed. In that context actions that seem separatist are more challenging to the foundations of their society. I think French society would have been just as (perhaps more) outraged if a sub-section of unitegrated men had decided to go around wearing helmets or balaclavas the whole time in order to pull away from public life. Whether it was about them being superior or inferior, about religion or politics, or something else. The idea of people rejecting public life does not fit in with Frances view of citizenship.