France - Religion

Some parliamentarians call for commission to discuss burqas, Islam's role in France

Article published on the 2009-06-17 Latest update 2009-06-17 17:28 TU

Women in burqas
(Photo: Steve Evans/Flickr)

A group of 59 French parliamentarians have supported creating a panel which would investigate the wearing of burqas, garments from certain Islamic traditions meant to cloak a woman's entire body. The sponsor of the proposal calls burqas "degrading" and says he wants a "dialogue" with Muslims about their role in France.

French Communist Party parliamentarian André Gerin submitted the proposal on Wednesday to the law commission of the National Assembly.

It was signed by 58 other parlimentarians, most of them from the ruling conservative UMP party.

The panel would have 30 parliamentarians charged with the task of "defining proposals with the goal of fighting against... what consititutes an affront to individual liberty on national territory."

Gerin, in an explanatory text, wrote that burqas are "moveable prisons" and that "this image of împrisoned women... is completely unacceptable on the soil of the French Republic."

He further said that he wanted to see "a fair and frank dialogue with the totality of Muslims about the place of Islam in France... with regards to a shift towards fundamentalism".

Gerin represents a suburb of Lyon, Venissieux, which contains a large north African immigrant population.

Other parliamentarians expressed hesitance about creating the panel. One, Claude Bartolone of the Socialist Party, who represents Saine-Saint Denis, which also has a very high proportion of North African immigrants, said that he worried that such a high-profile manner of dealing with the issue would actually cause a setback in the process by which immigrants integrate in France.

The National Assembly would have to agree to set up the panel. It would produce a report due by 30 November, Gerin said.