The Hague, Netherlands -- Dutch lawmakers on Wednesday fiercely debated a limited ban on face-covering head wear worn by what appears to be Muslim women but it really could go both ways.
The purpose of the head wear is to provide modesty for women who can be married by the age of 6 and be forced to have sex with their husbands, who may have as many as four wives and can dress any way they want.
One lawmaker who requested anonymity suggested that women who want to remain modest and chaste wear novelty nose, mustache and eyeglasses in Groucho Marx style. "It hides one's identity and it's always good for a laugh or two," he said, still wishing to remain anonymous.
The ban proposal would outlaw the veils in public places such as schools, hospitals and public transportation. It would also make sense to ban them in banks, where they make perfect disguises.
Only a few hundred Muslim women in the Netherlands are made to wear concealing niqabs (full-face burqas) but successive governments have continue to seek banning the garments as is done in Belgium and France.
Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk said the current proposal wasn't as stringent as those two countries and called the legislation "religion-neutral." However, he conceded that the debate about burqas being worn on Dutch streets has played a major role in the proposal.
Plasterk said that in a free country such as the Netherlands, people should be allowed to cover their faces in public if they want to, but in government buildings and in health and education settings such as hospitals and schools, people need to be able to look each other in the face.
I go back to banks in my argument.
The vote date is not known as yet and if Parliament's lower house passes the legislation, it must also be approved by the Senate before becoming [sharia] law.
A small group of either men or women or both, wearing full-face niqabs, watched the debate from the public gallery. Judging from their expressions was impossible.
Jaques Monasch, an independent lawmaker, called the burqa "a symbol of oppression of women," and stone wash blue jeans and shorts "what Muslim men wear if they want."
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The purpose of the head wear is to provide modesty for women who can be married by the age of 6 and be forced to have sex with their husbands, who may have as many as four wives and can dress any way they want.
One lawmaker who requested anonymity suggested that women who want to remain modest and chaste wear novelty nose, mustache and eyeglasses in Groucho Marx style. "It hides one's identity and it's always good for a laugh or two," he said, still wishing to remain anonymous.
The ban proposal would outlaw the veils in public places such as schools, hospitals and public transportation. It would also make sense to ban them in banks, where they make perfect disguises.
Only a few hundred Muslim women in the Netherlands are made to wear concealing niqabs (full-face burqas) but successive governments have continue to seek banning the garments as is done in Belgium and France.
Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk said the current proposal wasn't as stringent as those two countries and called the legislation "religion-neutral." However, he conceded that the debate about burqas being worn on Dutch streets has played a major role in the proposal.
Plasterk said that in a free country such as the Netherlands, people should be allowed to cover their faces in public if they want to, but in government buildings and in health and education settings such as hospitals and schools, people need to be able to look each other in the face.
I go back to banks in my argument.
The vote date is not known as yet and if Parliament's lower house passes the legislation, it must also be approved by the Senate before becoming [sharia] law.
A small group of either men or women or both, wearing full-face niqabs, watched the debate from the public gallery. Judging from their expressions was impossible.
Jaques Monasch, an independent lawmaker, called the burqa "a symbol of oppression of women," and stone wash blue jeans and shorts "what Muslim men wear if they want."
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