This chapter addresses the question of the legitimacy of European bans on concealing faces through a comparative analysis of the international (human rights) case-law that has interpreted the wearing of Islamic headscarves as an expression of cultural and religious freedoms. Emerging from the analysis of the jurisprudential findings on this matter is the growing tendency of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) to interpret the so-called forum externum of freedom of religion in a partially autonomous way from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), basing their jurisdiction more widely on the tenor and scope of the EU Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), respectively.

The lack of total convergence in international jurisprudence on the prohibition of wearing veils has produced the inevitable effect of disorientating national judges, incapable of reaching univocal solutions in ascertaining the criteria for legitimizing the restrictions of religious rights. As this chapter will ascertain, in the attempt to facilitate domestic authorities in assessing the lawfulness of the interference measures in religious freedom, the CJEU and the UNHRC increasingly provide incisive guidance despite the margin of discretion of states in balancing individual rights with national interests as recognized by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).