Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Contents
- List of Cases
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- An Introduction to the Interdisciplinary Considerations of the “Burqa Ban” Trend: Criminalizing the Trivial or Separating National and International Law?
- PART I Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Strategy of Prohibition
- PART II Legal Perspectives: Religious Clothing, Law, and a Veil-Wearer’s Experiential Account
- Part II Legal Perspectives: Human Rights Perspectives
- Part II Legal Perspectives: National Perspectives
- PART III Responses To Otherness: Gender, Race, And The Veil Factor
- Epilogue
- Index
- About the Editors
Burqas and Niqābs as Protected Expression: “This is My Face”
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 December 2021
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Contents
- List of Cases
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- An Introduction to the Interdisciplinary Considerations of the “Burqa Ban” Trend: Criminalizing the Trivial or Separating National and International Law?
- PART I Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Strategy of Prohibition
- PART II Legal Perspectives: Religious Clothing, Law, and a Veil-Wearer’s Experiential Account
- Part II Legal Perspectives: Human Rights Perspectives
- Part II Legal Perspectives: National Perspectives
- PART III Responses To Otherness: Gender, Race, And The Veil Factor
- Epilogue
- Index
- About the Editors
Summary
Abstract
In several European countries, Islamic attire is banned in public spaces, in what can best be described as structural Islamophobic discrimination. In 2014, Europe's highest human rights court upheld the French ban and, three years later, the Belgian bans. In doing so, however, the European Court of Human Rights cemented a dangerous standard into human rights case law:’ living together.’ Judicial rights discourse regarding these bans has centered on freedom of religion, protected under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights as the applicable article. While the analysis under Article 9 was of course necessary, this chapter argues that the Court should have also assessed the question of’ living together’ against free expression under Article 10. To demonstrate this, it begins by considering the history of failure to recognize violations of Article 9 freedom of religion protections under European human rights law and discusses the protections available under Article 10. It then considers how the ban on face coverings and the Court's jurisprudence take a dangerous turn when applied to a different context, Denmark, where bans are part of a wider discriminatory political and legal landscape.
Introduction
In 1992, the U.S. law professor and critical race theorist Derrick Bell published a short science-fiction story called’ Space Traders.’ In the story, aliens arrive in the U.S. offering gold, anti-pollutants, and clean, safe nuclear energy (i.e. to solve all America's problems). In exchange, they request that all American black people – 20 million citizens – be transferred to their spaceships for interstellar deportation. Provocative and paradigm setting, the story illustrated the problems of unequal citizenship in the U.S. By imagining political discussions where black Americans are asked to sacrifice themselves for the good of the country, the story fictionalized a common political argument that race relations might be’ solved’ by removing/limiting the numbers of the’ problem’ race.
If Bell's allegory were applied toward Muslims in Europe today, what do we imagine the answer would be? Certain forms of Islamophobia are mainstream in Europe today.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Law, Cultural Studies and the 'Burqa Ban' TrendAn Interdisciplinary Handbook, pp. 167 - 186Publisher: IntersentiaPrint publication year: 2021