LONDON: The implementation of the French Niqab ban on Monday 11 April heralds another chapter in the already long book charting the spiral of France into a fascist state. Whilst it is assumed that less than 2000 women in the country don the face covering, the French government has deemed fit to target these women as ‘un-French' and oppressed. In so doing they have yet again stigmatized Islamic and Muslim symbols, and by extension Muslim communities in France. Arzu Merali, a spokesperson for IHRC said: “Arguments that this law is set to empower these women is offensive and ludicrous. Such arguments simply promote racist stereotypes about Muslim women needing to be liberated and being incapable of making rational decisions about their own emancipation.” IHRC has previously documented the violations of CEDAW (Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) that the headscarf and religious symbols ban in French schools has incurred. BM
