Belgium Considers Easing Penalties for Burqa Ban Violations

In Belgium, any person who wears the burqa in public space is liable to a fine of 15 to 25 euros and imprisonment of one to seven days. Severe sanctions that some government members are working to revise. "During inter-cabinet discussions, some ministerial advisers have made the proposal that the wearing of the burqa should no longer be as severely punished as it is currently," reports La Dernière Heure.

These discussions are taking place in a context marked by the revision of the Penal Code. One aspect of this reform initiated by Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD) aims to classify offenses to the law into eight categories of punishment, "8 being the category applying to the most serious crimes, such as murder, and 1 being the category relating to the least serious criminal acts, mainly minor traffic offenses".

Left-wing advisers would have proposed that non-compliance with the law - adopted by an almost unanimous vote in the Chamber in 2011 - aimed at banning the wearing of any clothing that completely or mainly covers the face in public space be moved to category 1. But this proposal does not receive the assent of a united front of Vooruit, CD&V, Open VLD and MR. For its part, the PS calls for maintaining the ban on appearing masked in places accessible to the public.

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For the time being, the debate has not yet been settled. "We are working within the framework of a ban on wearing the burqa in public space. We are waiting for the Minister of Justice to come back to us with the best legal solution once the inter-cabinet work is completed. It is then that the government will decide on the precise nature of the sanction," says the Ecolo party.