Belgium moves to ban burqas worn in public

“There is all-party public support for this,” says Leen Dierick, a conservative member of the Belgian parliament’s Interior Affairs committee that unanimously backed the proposed ban March 31. The initiative is expected become law in July and would apply to all public places, including streets. Until now, it has been up to city governments in…

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Similar niqab-related laws in Montreal, Paris and Bruxelles

This article in Le Devoir examines similarities between anti-niqab legislation in Quebec, France and Belgium. These countries articulate their positions differently: thus far, Belgium has proposed a more radical approach proposing a full ban for niqabs in all public spaces, while the proposed law 94 in Quebec suggests restrictions to public services. France has yet…

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Headscarf ban in Flemish public schools suspended

The Flemish school board introduced a ban in September 2009 in the region’s Dutch-language public schools, along with a prohibition on the wearing of all religious symbols for pupils and teachers. Responding to a complaint by a Muslim student at a school in the northern town of Antwerp, Belgium’s state council — the highest authority…

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Op-Ed: Muslims in Europe: Identity versus Integration

An op-ed by Asma Hanif in the Khaleej Times examines some of the challenges faced by Muslims in Belgium, particularly youth, who feel that a wide gap exists between their world at home and their daily life at school. Hanif suggests that this challenge stems from a conflict between preservation of cultural and religious identities…

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Muslims in Flanders react to Dutch ‘Fitna’ film

Reactions of Belgian Muslims across Flanders concerning the _Fitna’ film are mixed in the intensity of their criticism and concern. Farid El Machaoud of the League of Muslims in Belgium said: I feel slightly offended by certain scenes and among other things, the fact that certain verses from the Koran were taken out of context….

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