Canberra drops plan to segrete veiled women
Race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane told Fairfax Media the original ruling meant Muslim women were being treated differently to non-Muslim women.
“No-one should be treated like a second-class citizen, not least in the parliament,” he said.
“I have yet to see any expert opinion or analysis to date which indicates that the burqa or the niqab represents an additional or special security threat.” [my emphasis] [here]
A couple of points:
- "Second-class citizens": the women veiling are denoting themselves as second-class citizens. That they should not be seen. And if it's "modesty" they claim, then that's a horrid reflection on men -- that they can't be trusted to view unveiled women. If that were true, rapes in the middle east would be less than in the west, but they're not.
- ".... special security threat": Race discrimination commissioner Soutphommasane shows himself ignorant here. There are numerous reports of niqabs and burqa being used to hide criminal activities.
... examples include the following:
- .... Armed robberies. For example:
