Laws forcing women wearing burqas to show their face when asking JPs and lawyers to witness their signature should be imposed in Victoria, the Law Institute says.
Category Archives: Hijab
FIFA to take final decision on hijab ban in July
Goal-line technology was approved in principle by the soccer’s lawmakers on Saturday and could be used for the first time at FIFA’s Club World Cup finals in Japan at the end of the year.
The eight-man International Football Association Board said that the technologies of two companies, Hawk-Eye from Britain and GoalRef, a German-Danish company, would be subject to further tests until a final decision was taken at a special IFAB meeting in Kiev on July 2.
IFAB, which comprises four representatives from the world governing body FIFA and four from the British associations, also agreed in principle to overturn the decision they took in 2007 and will now allow Islamic women footballers to wear a hijab, or headscarf, when they play.
United Nations urges FIFA to allow hijab
The United Nations has urged FIFA to allow Islamic women to wear a hijab headscarf while playing soccer.
The U.N. says Wilfried Lemke, sports adviser to secretary general Ban Ki-moon, has written to FIFA president Sepp Blatter backing a proposal being considered at a meeting on Saturday. “FIFA has the responsibility to ensure that everyone has an equal chance to participate in football,” Lemke said.
FIFA outlawed hijabs for safety reasons in 2007, and allowed a cap that some players object to because it exposes their neck. FIFA’s rules panel meets in England, and will receive a presentation from FIFA vice president Prince Ali of Jordan to allow a headscarf held in place by a Velcro fastener.
Associated Press, 29 February 2012
Cf. “The politics of FIFA and the hijab”, Foreign Policy, 28 February 2012
World football players’ union backs hijab rule change
FIFPro supports a proposal to allow a safe headscarf to be worn by women football players. Currently FIFA bans women who wear the Islamic headscarf (hijab) from playing in regional or international matches. They are only allowed to wear a cap that covers the players heads to the headline but does not extend below the ears to cover the neck.
His Royal Highness Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, FIFA vice president representing Asia, has recommended the executive committee of FIFA a revision of the laws of the game, to allow a “Velcro-opening” headscarf to be worn by women. He will be presenting the case to the international Football Association Board (IFAB) on March 3rd.
Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein has asked Brendan Schwab, the president of FIFPro Division Asia and Board member of FIFPro, to support his proposal. “The primary objective is to ensure that all women are able to play football at all levels without any barriers or discrimination.”
On behalf of FIFPro, Schwab gave his support to the proposal. “FIFPro has always been a strong supporter of the rights of all women to play football and for Islamic women to play football wearing headscarves”, Schwab explains. “We believe, as His Royal Highness does, that the participation of women is extremely beneficial, not just for the individual involved but for our game generally.”
French draft law aims to ban hijab for child minders
The controversy surrounding the Islamic headscarf in France is making headlines again as the French National Assembly studies a draft law that will ban religious symbols in all facilities catering for children, including nannies and childcare assistants looking after children at home.
The draft law was approved by the French Senate with a large majority on Jan. 17 and it was sent to the National Assembly to be ratified before being signed it into law by the president.
Hijab ban driving women away from soccer
Iranian women’s team after being excluded from Olympic qualifying match against Jordan
Muslim women are being driven away from soccer by FIFA’s ban of the hijab, with more likely to follow if rulemakers fail to reverse the decision at a meeting next month, Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan told Reuters.
While physical Olympic sports such as rugby and taekwondo allow Muslim women to wear the headscarf in competition, soccer, the world’s most popular sport, remains against its use, citing safety concerns.
Last year the Iranian women’s soccer team were prevented from playing their 2012 Olympic second round qualifying match against Jordan because they refused to remove their hijabs before kick-off.
Women want the chance to bend it like Beckham, headscarves and all
Muslim Lakembaroos are free to wear the hijab when they take to the soccer field in club competitions in Sydney every week.
The only thing they need to watch is that their headscarves match their uniforms, just as their male counterparts must wear an undershirt the same colour as their jerseys.
But any young Muslim Lakembaroo with aspirations of making the Matildas and going to an Olympics knows her career may never get off the ground under FIFA laws banning the hijab in international competition.
Dutch Council of State on ‘burqa ban’
The Dutch Council of State says it should be up to women themselves to decide whether or not to wear garments which cover the face. The highest government advisory body argues that ministers shouldn’t use a general ban to rule out the choice of some women to wear the burqa.
Last Monday, the government sent draft legislation for a ‘burqa ban’ to parliament. The proposal would outlaw the wearing in public of face covering articles such as burqas, full-face helmets and balaclavas.
One of the reasons being put forward by ministers to justify a ban is that the burqa and similar articles of clothing run counter to the equality of the sexes. The council, however, thinks this is something to be judged by individual women themselves.
Amsterdam police chief reluctant to enforce veil ban, Wilders’ party not happy
The far-right anti-Islam Freedom Party PVV, which props up the minority government in parliament, has demanded that the Dutch police corps enforce the burqa ban. The PVV is supported by Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten on the issue.
PVV MP Joram van Klaveren was speaking on Sunday in response to remarks made by the chief of Amsterdam’s police corps, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, on national TV talk show Eva Jinek op Zondag. Mr Aalbersberg said it should be left up to the police officer on duty to decide whether or not to write out a ticket for a Muslim wearing a burqa or niqab. The police chief added issuing a warning should also be an option.
Belgian politician risks Muslim backlash after using teenage daughter dressed in burka and bikini for campaign against Islam
A Belgian politician has risked causing uproar among Muslims after starting a “Women Against Islamization” campaign featuring his 19-year-old daughter wearing a burka and a bikini.
Filip Dewinter, leader of the far-right Vlaams Belang party, uses a shot of his daughter An-Sofie Dewinter in the dark blue bikini for the political campaign.