The cantonal parliament of Zurich rejected on Monday a proposal by the far right Swiss People’s Party (SVP) – Switzerland’s largest party - to ban headscarves for female Muslim students in Swiss schools. The proposal was aimed at “instilling respect of Swiss values in schools”, the party’s leadership says, and that people who settled in Switzerland needed to realise “they could not turn up to work in a headscarf”.

Adrian Amstutz, parliamentarian and senior member of the SVP is one of the strongest supporters of those bans: “Muslims must be spurred to integrate into society”, he said to Swiss News Worldwide. The more moderate, centre right Christian Democratic Party, has been advocating the ban on burqas, a body covering including a face veil, in a bid to defend women’s rights.

Minarets and the ECHR
The proposed ban on headscarves comes shortly after the controversial ban on minarets resulting from a referendum which Swiss voters supported by 57.5 per cent.
According to the People’s Party, the outcome of the minaret ban showed that citizens of the country did not want “parallel societies” or the granting of “special rights” to the Muslim population.
 

Both proposals raises issues of basic human rights that Switzerland, as a signatory to the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), must uphold.
 

As the international community expressed its outrage at the proposed minaret ban, the SVP has reasons to fear that the European Court of Human Rights will rule against the decision of the referendum, as essentially contravening the principles of the Convention. Leadership of the People’s Party has pledged to suspend Switzerland’s obligations under the international agreement if the European Court of Human Rights rules against the minaret ban, something ruled out by the Foreign Ministry.

Integration concerns
Ismael Amin, former president of the Association of Islamic Organisations in Zurich, says Amstutz’s concerns are unfounded: “I don't believe the Muslim population is badly integrated. Most are well integrated and practise their religion without any problem. I certainly wouldn't talk of insufficient integration.”
 

As to the vote to ban minarets, Amin says that the Swiss population was “misled”: “The campaign was fought very fiercely and aggressively. The issue of minarets was rarely discussed, it was much more about Islam – and then with misleading arguments. People brought up forced marriages – even though sharia law bans them; then there was female circumcision, which all [Muslim] jurists oppose, and burqas – not one burqa has ever been seen in Switzerland.”
 

While it is yet to be seen whether the ban on minarets will ever become domestic law in Switzerland, a Cairo court ruled on Sunday in favour of the Egyptian government's decision to ban female students wearing the burqa in university examinations.