Title: Some comments on the Islamic full veil ban in Europe

Authors: Benito Alaez Corral

Addresses: Department of Public Law, University of Oviedo, Campus del Cristo s/n, E-33006, Spain

Abstract: This short comment gives an account of the Islamic full veil bans in public spaces that are starting to be adopted in some European countries. After mentioning the European Law framework and the general bans recently passed in Belgium and France, as well as the partial bans adopted by other countries, like Germany, Italy, Spain, or the UK, the comment draws two competing models of such regulation: the French model that relies on an immaterial understanding of public order for banning the Islamic full veil in public spaces and the German model, which requires concrete and tangible material public order grounds for limiting the wearing of the Islamic full veil.

Keywords: fundamental rights; freedom of religion; Islamic full veil; Burqa; constitutional comparative law; European Convention of Human Rights; Islam; full veil ban; Europe; France; public order; public spaces; Germany; religious freedom.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHRCS.2013.057318

International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, 2013 Vol.1 No.4, pp.296 - 300

Published online: 31 Mar 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article