Belgium might ban full veils

A parliamentary committee in Brussels unanimously voted last week to ban the wearing of face-covering veils in public, a major step in the legislative process that could make Belgium the first European country to impose such a prohibition.

The interior affairs committee representing all major parties was unanimous March 31 in backing the bill; the full house of representatives is expected to vote on the issue at the end of the month.

“We cannot allow someone to claim the right to look at others without being seen,” said Daniel Bacquelaine, a member of parliament and president of the Francophone Liberal Party, who proposed the bill. “It is necessary that the law forbids the wearing of clothes that totally mask and encloses an individual,” he said, adding he was not targeting the classic headscarf worn by many Muslim women.

The parliamentarians are specifically targeting the body-covering burqa and face-veiling niqab, which are still very rare features in Belgian public life. “We have to act as of today to avoid [its] development,” Bacquelaine said. — ap