Veiled women can be denied Swiss state assistance
The southern Swiss canton of Ticino has a burka ban in place since July 2016
The Swiss cabinet has clarified that women wearing burkas or niqabs can be denied social aid or unemployment insurance, as face coverings can result in identification issues or limit possibilities for finding a job.
On Thursday, the cabinet responded to a parliamentary question on the subject, and clarified when face coverings could affect recipients of state financial assistance. According to them, the burka or niqab could pose a problem when it came to identifying beneficiaries of social welfare payments. The religious garments could also create difficulties if a medical examination is required to determine if a person qualifies for support. In these cases, the government ruled that the women concerned could be denied state assistance for refusing to cooperate. In addition, women who limit their employment opportunities on account of their religious beliefs or insistence on covering their faces could also be denied unemployment insurance.
According to the cabinet, in certain cases, wearing a burka or niqab could become an obstacle when it comes to acquiring a Swiss resident permit. These include participating in the workforce, acquiring skills through training or learning a language. The women could even jeopardise their chances of acquiring Swiss nationality, as a key criterion for successful integration is participation in Swiss social and cultural life.It is not just women who stand to lose. A criterion for naturalisation is showing support for a spouse’s attempts to integrate into Swiss society. If the authorities suspect a man applying for a Swiss passport of preventing his wife from integrating, he will not be considered as integrated himself and will be denied naturalisation.
Religious or cultural beliefs that clash with so-called Swiss values have resulted in court proceedings where parents refused to send their daughters to swimming lessons on religious grounds have resulted in fines based on the argument that swimming lessons encourage socialisation and integration. In another case, the Muslim family of two teenage boys who refused to shake their female teachers’ hands for religious reasons had their application for citizenship.
Resistance to the burka
A ban on face coverings implemented in 2016 after a popular vote is currently in place in the Swiss canton of Ticino. A call for a nation-wide ban on the burka was narrowly passedexternal linklast year in one house of parliament, though it is unlikely to succeed. In addition, a people’s initiative on the same issue has been launched and those behind it have until September 2017 to gather the 100,000 necessary signatures to force a nationwide vote, irrespective of what the parliament decides. According to a recent pollexternal link, over 70% of the Swiss population would support a nationwide ban on the wearing of veils or any kind of clothing that hides the face in public.
Muslims constitute about 5 percent of Switzerland’s more than 8 million population. Most Muslim immigrants came from the former Yugoslavia and Turkey.
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Categories: Europe, Europe and Australia, European Union, Hijab, Switzerland, The Muslim Times
On second thoughts: Yes, an applicant for unemployment insurance payments must show that he/she is actively seeking a job. A ‘Niqab’ would not be demonstrating willingness to work. On the other hand: how many such cases are there in Switzerland? One? Five? Is it worth to waste the time of the Swiss Cabinet?
I never thought of veiling as a sign of oppression. If anything, I would say that it is almost a sign of respecting the dignity of women. Her body is protected from visual ogling (and I witnessed the opposite many times when women were not covered), and this includes her face. Women can go to the head of the line in the post office, have a separate office for getting a drivers license that is much faster, and are just treated differently, but not necessarily worse. Furthermore, it is the women who choose it frequently. My husband was over at a friends and his wife would not come out because she was not covered—even though both my husband and hers said it was okay. I agree with an earlier comment: when will it reach to Catholics? Or other religions? I am not saying that women were treated perfectly over there, or are in France, I am saying don’t assume that all women feel oppressed because they wear a veil. And furthermore, I don’t think it is the states position to dictate what people can or cannot wear.
Veil is a sign of woman liberation from Current Naked liberalism, unethical fashion, social harassment, over consciousness about figure etc and become a sex icon and toy of the troy.
Veil is not mere name of piece of cloth but it also has complete women education and training to enjoy her full, fledge life without any fear and become tradable commodity and symbol of enjoyment.
Europe is needlessly focussing the “veil issue” which relates to the lives of a very small portion of European society. It is estimated that there are only about 2000 Muslim women in France and 30 in Belgium who wear burqa. European Establishments concern with the affairs of such a tiny minority represents a clear instance of cultural bigotry. Those wearing burqa were ridiculed as “walking-coffins” or ” asymmetrical cylinders”. In very cold winter people walk about with scarves tightly wrapped around their face. In those cases no security issue arises, but the wearing of burqa raises security concern. Burqa is regarded as a symbol of male domination by the self-proclaimed torchbearers of liberty but they do not know that Islam gave women the rights that the west could not even think about till 20th century. Burqa is worn as a matter of choice. Nowadays young women choose to wear full veil seeing it as a powerful statement of identity, The parliaments of various European countries are voting to legislate the banning of the veils, In Switzerland a ban on minarets was imposed. The campaign against Islamic symbols is on the rise because of a sense of insecurity in some Europeans. A ban on the burqa is bound to widen the differences rather than bridging them. It will just encourage discrimination against Muslims in European society.
Niqab is part of freedom of expression and religion. It might be something you don’t like or respect, but it is the choice of women to make, if they want to cover their faces then they should and in many societies are free to do so.
Wearing the Niqab has never been a security threat, and if one was to say in case it becomes a security threat, let’s BAN women from expressing their beliefs and determining for themselves what they want, then I say INCREASE and IMPROVE the security of institutions.
There might be some Muslims who deny the niqab as having any legitimate basis in Islam, but when faced with evidence from Islamic traditions, I wonder, what evidence to they bring to support their preposterous arguments.
And, Let’s for the sake of the argument say this has nothing to do with Islam, it still has everything to do with the right of women to determine for themselves how they want to dress.
According to some western feminists, ban on burqa is violation of fundamental human right to choice for dress. To them the law does not aim at defending Muslim women rights but restricting the same. The burqa ban is, in fact, liberticidal, they argue. And it will not defend women dignity but increase racist aggression against Muslim women wearing veils.
The niqab, hijab, and burqa are all Islamic, as they have been customary in parts of the Muslim world and are bound up in Muslim scripture and tradition for hundreds of years. Such clothes may very well have been inherited by Islam from pre-Islamic cultures, too. But that doesn’t change the fact that the clothes are closely identified with Islam. As for any rules REQUIRING or BANNING clothes are unnecessary.
Not covering whole face or not is up to interpretation of various schools of thought and they shall be accountable on their intentions behind interpretation but I have numerous examples around me where women are doing complete veil and they are very much professional and active in every walk of life and living a very “respectable” and healthy life along with every contemporary suitable fashion and ornaments they may feel comfortable with.
IA
http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk