Burka could become an unwanted garment in Germany. Both the minister of internal affairs and the Chancellor say that a concealed face is unacceptable in an open society because it prevents people from fitting in. Those familiar with current political affairs add another reason – upcoming elections in some of the German provinces and slightly more rigid political statements due to this fact.
On the wave of the burka ban in France also comes the announcement of the legal ban of burkas in public places in Germany.
“We’re not only opposed to the burka but to all other forms of face concealment where only the eyes are visible. There is no room for that in an open society. We propose that revealed faces be legally mandatory and that there be consequences those who don’t abide by this rule,” says Germany’s minister of internal affairs Tomas de Mezier.
Chancellor Angela Merkel goes one step further.
“From my perspective a completely covered woman has no hopes of integrating in Germany,” states Angela Merkel.
Is Merkel warning us that the integration of Muslims failed or is she admitting it?
“Women who don’t wear the burka but instead wear a hijab – a veil which doesn’t conceal their face but covers their hair, are being discriminated in Germany. They can’t get a job because of that veil over their head,” says Nenad Radicevic, an associate of RTS and Politika’s correspondent from Berlin.
Integration and fear of terrorist attacks aren’t the soul reasons for the prohibition of the burka in Germany. Elections are scheduled in Berlin in the region of Meklenburg West Pomerania.
“This can considered a part of the election campaign by the Christian Democrats in an attempt to stop the right-wing Alternative for Germany from sapping away even more votes and oust them from power in those two regions,” says Radicevic.
It’s bad policy that political interests determine rights and freedoms. The jurists say that the European court for human rights, which decided in 2014 that the prohibition of niqabs in France was justified in certain situations, needs to be consulted.
“Above all we need to consider women’s rights, their freedom of choice which includes the choice of their garments, since we are also talking about a religious view they are expressing in this way. Sanctions of any kind are unjustifiable and won’t lead to a decrease of radicalization and segregation between the two societies, quite the contrary,” says Milan Antonijevic from YUCOM.
In order for the law which prohibits the burka to be passed in Germany a wider political consensus needs to be reached. Such a consensus was first achieved in France and Belgium – where the burka was first banned. Some parts of Italy, Spain and the Netherlands have also introduced the ban and Austria has also announced a burka ban in the future.
