Hege Storhaug, HRS
Forslaget om forbud kom opp allerede i 2005 i det nederlandske parlamentet. Forslagsstiller var ikke overraskende Geert Wilders. Mer overraskende var det at forslaget fikk flertall for seks år siden. Slik sett var Nederlands parlament det første i Europa til å vedta et forbud. Men på grunn av nasjonalvalg og ny koalisjon har vedtaket ikke blitt fulgt opp før nå. Forbudet vil ikke gjelde i moskeer, andre religiøse bygninger eller for utenlandske kvinner i transitt på flyplasser.
Women caught wearing a burka in public, on the streets, public transport and in schools or hospitals will be fined £330.
There will be exemptions for mosques, or other religious buildings and for foreign women travelling through the transit lounges of international Dutch airports.
Cabinet ministers will justify the ban with the argument that the burka does “not fit into our open society and women must participate fully.”
The Dutch parliament was the first in Europe to demand a burka ban in 2005 after voting on a proposal tabled by Geert Wilders, at the start of his career as an anti-Islam politician.
But legislation was derailed by national elections and a change of coalition.
Since then and following elections last year Mr Wilders, whose Freedom Party has become the third largest Dutch political party, made a ban a condition of his support for the current minority government.