Should France Ban the Burqa?

France’s lower house of parliament should be commended for approving a ban on the burqa this week. The French senate is expected to pass the measure in September. Once enacted, the law will impose a small fine (about $200) on women wearing the veil. Men who force women to wear the burqa can be slapped with a €30,000 fine and even jail time. Anyone found forcing a minor to wear the burqa can be fined €60,000, with a longer prison sentence.

Critics call the move xenophobic, but there is nothing hateful about it. For one, burqas make identification exceedingly difficult at a time when security agencies need to check faces against names to prevent terrorism. The ban is also a nod to women’s rights. As philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy notes, the burqa “communicates the subjugation, the subservience, the crushing, and the defeat of women.” Finally, France has a right to defend itself from a burgeoning Muslim population (perhaps 10 percent) that seeks to impose elements of Islamic law that are inherently antithetical to Western values.

– Jonathan Schanzer is vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

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