Spain parliament rejects burqa ban propsal

Spain's Parliament rejected Tuesday a proposal to ban women wearing the face veil in public places, citing protection of personal freedoms.

The proposal to ban women from wearing a veil that only reveals the eyes was presented by the leading opposition Popular Party on the grounds that the outfit, also called burqa, violates the rights of women and undermines their dignity.

Following a debate that took place in the parliament's lower chamber, 162 MPs voted for the ban, 183 opposed it, and two abstained.

According to the Popular Party, the proposal was put forward "in defense of the dignity and equality of all women" and to make sure Muslim women are not being forced by their husbands to become fully veiled.

"It is very difficult to understand how it is that our troops are defending liberty in Afghanistan and the government doesn't have the courage to do so here, in Spain," said opposition spokeswoman Soraya Saenz de Santamaria.

Some analysts argue that the main purpose of the proposal is strengthening the opposition amid the economic problems with which the government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has been plighted.

"This has been used politically in a search for electoral support," said Mansur Escudero, president of the Islamic Commission of Spain.

He added that the last time he had seen a fully veiled women in Spain was 10 years ago in the southern city of Marbella, where several wealthy Arabs own houses, and that this woman might have been a tourist.

"The only woman I knew who regularly wore a burqa had lived in the southern city of Cordoba and died about a decade ago."

None of the opposition spokesmen had been able to cite a place in Spain where women routinely wear face-covering veils.

It is very difficult to understand how it is that our troops are defending liberty in Afghanistan and the government doesn't have the courage to do so here, in Spain

Opposition spokeswoman Soraya Saenz de Santamaria

Government opposes ban

The ruling Socialist Party opposed the ban, arguing that it could force fully veiled women who are unable to take the burqa off to make one of two difficult choices: Go out in public and break the law or stay home all the time and become totally isolated.

"We want to avoid putting women who live in this kind of situation in a dual jail," said Eduardo Madina, secretary general for the ruling Socialist Party.

Yet the government said it is in favor of banning the burqa in government buildings. A proposal to that effect will be submitted as part of an upcoming bill on religious rights, to be debated after the parliament's summer recess.

The government's proposed ban will include courts, ministries, and employment offices, said Justice Minister Francisco Caamano who said he saw the face veil as "hardly compatible with human dignity."

Despite the rejection of the ban, several Spanish cities, including Barcelona, have banned wearing the face veil in municipal buildings.

Muslims in Spain are estimated at one million, mostly recent-arrivals from northwest Africa where the face veil is not common.

The opposition's proposal comes at a time when the debate about allowing the face veil is sweeping several European countries that try to achieve the precarious balance between state secularism and the identity of their growing Muslim populations.

France and Belgium have already approved a ban on wearing the face covering veil in public, while the Netherlands is expected to follow suit.

We want to avoid putting women who live in this kind of situation in a dual jail

Socialist Party Secretary General Eduardo Madina