Germany’s Bundestag, or lower house of parliament agreed to a draft law on April 27 that will ban civil servants, judges, and soldiers in Germany from wearing full-face veils at work.
Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a veil ban “wherever legally possible” in December.
Some see it as a security measure, allowing facial-recognition software to work. Some see this as a political move, aimed to gain far-right support. Others see it as essential to integrating migrants into German culture.
Germany has accepted more than a million migrants in the past two years. Many are Middle Eastern Muslims. if they set themselves off from others by hiding their faces, for whatever reason, it can lead to suspicion and prejudice in a culture where people look at each others’ faces for important social cues.
France has passed a law banning the display of any religious symbols in public schools. The aim is to reduce divisiveness. Religion, even in strongly religious France, is deemed something for personal observance.
Many nations have laws prohibiting wearing masks in public.
Most of these laws predate the influx of Islamic migrants, and were passed entirely to facilitate police force function.
Germany drafts law banning veil for soldiers, some public officials
By NTD Newsroom