Jyllands-Posten, 19 January 2010

Few burqas, much fuss

Published on 19 January 2010 at 19:09
Jyllands-Posten, 19 January 2010

Cover

According to a survey commissioned by the Danish government last summer and conducted by the university of Copenhagen, the Danish population includes approximately 200 women who wear the niqab, and only three who wear full burqas. However, notwithstanding these relatively low numbers, Jyllands-Postennotes that the government still does not know how to respond to the report's findings. In particular, it has yet to choose between introducing a law that would ban the wearing of a full veil, or an adjustment to the penal code that would make it an offence to force people to wear certain types of garments including burqas. The daily also reports that the extreme-right Danish People's Party, led by Pia Kjærsgaard, and the Liberal Alliance (two opposition parties that support the government's position) have criticized the methods used by the authors of the report, who collected data from imams (including a number of extremists). The wearing of full veils is also a political issue in France, where a survey published by Le Figaroindicates that 57% of the population is in favour of "a law to ban the wearing of burqas" in the country.

Tags

Was this article useful? If so we are delighted!

It is freely available because we believe that the right to free and independent information is essential for democracy. But this right is not guaranteed forever, and independence comes at a cost. We need your support in order to continue publishing independent, multilingual news for all Europeans.

Discover our subscription offers and their exclusive benefits and become a member of our community now!

Are you a news organisation, a business, an association or a foundation? Check out our bespoke editorial and translation services.

Support independent European journalism

European democracy needs independent media. Join our community!

On the same topic