I wanted to post a round-up about Spain joining the list of European countries considering bans on identity-cloaking veils worn by a small percentage of devout Muslim women. Unfortunately, I’m having trouble finding articles that clearly explain the relevant angles: the current status of each of the proposed laws, the type of veil specified (hijab, burqa and/or niqab?), the percentage of citizens/immigrants impacted, whether the bans have any support from progressive/secular Muslims, how much of this is based on security concerns vs. xenophobia, etc.

I’ve found nothing on the potential impact on diplomatic relations and tourism, if at all. (The only time I’ve really noticed niqabs — I’ve never seen burqas — in western Europe has been at the airport in summer — presumably Saudi women on vacation.) It would also be interesting to compare these proposals with laws restricting head coverings for women in Muslim-majority countries like Turkey and Tunisia.

I’ll keep looking. In the meantime, here are some interesting links:

• Council of Europe opposes bans on Muslim face veils (Reuters)
• How Western journalists reported the ban on burqa (Muslimah Media Watch)
• Indian Muslims react to Europe’s burqa bans (UPI)
• Belgium’s Burqa Ban (GetReligion)

Share your thoughts in the Comments section below, and post any other links there that I may have missed, too. (I’ll keep updating the list over the next few days.)

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