聯合國:法國面紗禁令侵犯宗教自由

法國警方在檢查兩位帶面紗的女性

本週三,聯合國人權事務委員會通過兩項里程碑式決議,認定法國政府頒佈的面紗禁令違反宗教信仰自由權。

據悉,聯合國人權事務委員會於2016年收到兩份有關面紗禁令投訴,近兩年之後,委員會終於作出裁決。

2010年,法國政府通過一項法案,禁止任何人在公共場合遮蓋面龐。外界普遍認為,這一新政直接針對穆斯林群體的面紗;2012年,兩名法國婦女因在公共場合佩戴面紗遭政府起訴。

聯合國人權委員會指出,法國政府頒佈的面紗禁令嚴重傷害了當事人的宗教信仰自由權,法國政府將佩戴面紗視為犯罪,此舉嚴重違反人權法,法國政府也從未對此禁令作出實質性解釋。

在接到聯合國人權委員會質詢後,法國政府辯稱面紗禁令是出於安全考慮,同時也是為了營造和諧共存的社會氛圍。然而,人權委員會表示這些藉口不足以侵犯他人宗教自由權。委員會指出,在需要身份驗證的情況下,政府可以要求公民摘掉面紗,但是,這種不分青紅皂白對全面禁止面紗的做法實屬不妥。

委員會還表示,雖然法國政府聲稱面紗禁令是對穆斯林婦女的保護,但是,這種一刀切的做法只會取得適得其反的效果,它不僅會給佩戴面紗的穆斯林婦女帶來壓力,使穆斯林群體進一步邊緣化,也會阻礙穆斯林婦女接受正常的社會公共服務。

聯合國人權事務委員會主席尤瓦爾•沙尼(Yuval Shany)說:“委員會這兩項決議並非刻意針對任何世俗國家,也不是刻意討好某個特定民族或族群,包括我們在內的不少委員都認為面紗是對婦女的壓迫與禁錮,但是,我們必須尊重每一個個體的選擇,尊重她們的宗教信仰。”

沙尼主席表示,這兩項決議代表了聯合國人權委員會在面紗問題上的基本立場,面紗禁令的存在沒有任何合理性,法國政府沒有在公共利益與個體利益間找到平衡。

這也是聯合國人權事物委員會首次針對面紗禁令作出回應。此前,委員會曾多次收到有關個人或族群生活方式的民事及政治糾紛,然而,對此類糾紛作出裁決,尚屬首次。

未來的180天以內,法國政府必須要就面紗禁令向聯合國人權事務委員會作出進一步解釋。期間,法國政府必須要給兩位投訴人作出相應賠償,並且堅決杜絕此類事件的再次發生。此外,法國政府還需重新審視面紗禁令。

 

編輯:葉哈雅

出處:聯合國人權事務委員會官網

原文:Banning the niqab violated two Muslim women’s freedom of religion - UN experts

連結:

 

 

Banning the niqab violated two Muslim women’s freedom of religion - UN experts

GEhttp://suo.im/51Ou12NEVA (23 October 2018) — In two landmark decisions, the United Nations Human Rights Committee found that France violated the human rights of two women by fining them for wearing the niqab, a full-body Islamic veil.

The two decisions, which were considered concurrently since they posed identical legal questions, are available to read in full (in French): 1 and 2.

The Human Rights Committee received the two complaints in 2016, after two French women were prosecuted and convicted in 2012 for wearing articles of clothing intended to conceal their faces in public. France in 2010 adopted a law stipulating that “No one may, in a public space, wear any article of clothing intended to conceal the face.” The law has the effect of banning the wearing of the full Islamic veil in public, which covers the whole body including the face, leaving just a narrow slit for the eyes. 

The Committee found that the general criminal ban on the wearing of the niqab in public introduced by the French law disproportionately harmed the petitioners’ right to manifest their religious beliefs, and that France had not adequately explained why it was necessary to prohibit this clothing. In particular, the Committee was not persuaded by France’s claim that a ban on face covering was necessary and proportionate from a security standpoint or for attaining the goal of “living together” in society. The Committee acknowledged that States could require that individuals show their faces in specific circumstances for identification purposes, but considered that a general ban on the niqab was too sweeping for this purpose. The Committee also concluded that the ban, rather than protecting fully veiled women, could have the opposite effect of confining them to their homes, impeding their access to public services and marginalizing them.

 “The decisions are not directed against the notion of secularity (laïcité), nor are they an endorsement of a custom which many on the Committee, including myself, regard as a form of oppression of women,” said Yuval Shany, Chair of the Committee. Rather, he explained, the decisions represented the position of the Committee that a general criminal ban did not allow for a reasonable balance between public interests and individual rights.

The case was the first of its kind to be considered by the Committee. While it regularly receives and rules on the practical application of civil and political rights in individual cases, it had not until now considered the question of laws which had the effect of banning the full Islamic veil.

The next step is for France within 180 days to report to the Committee on the action it has taken to implement the Committee’s decision, including compensation of the two petitioners and measures taken to prevent similar violations in the future, including by reviewing the law in question.

 

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23750&LangID=E

 

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