法国警方在检查两位带面纱的女性
本周三，联合国人权事务委员会通过两项里程碑式决议，认定法国政府颁布的面纱禁令违反宗教信仰自由权。
据悉，联合国人权事务委员会于2016年收到两份有关面纱禁令投诉，近两年之后，委员会终于作出裁决。
2010年，法国政府通过一项法案，禁止任何人在公共场合遮盖面庞。外界普遍认为，这一新政直接针对穆斯林群体的面纱；2012年，两名法国妇女因在公共场合佩戴面纱遭政府起诉。
联合国人权委员会指出，法国政府颁布的面纱禁令严重伤害了当事人的宗教信仰自由权，法国政府将佩戴面纱视为犯罪，此举严重违反人权法，法国政府也从未对此禁令作出实质性解释。
在接到联合国人权委员会质询后，法国政府辩称面纱禁令是出于安全考虑，同时也是为了营造和谐共存的社会氛围。然而，人权委员会表示这些藉口不足以侵犯他人宗教自由权。委员会指出，在需要身份验证的情况下，政府可以要求公民摘掉面纱，但是，这种不分青红皂白对全面禁止面纱的做法实属不妥。
委员会还表示，虽然法国政府声称面纱禁令是对穆斯林妇女的保护，但是，这种一刀切的做法只会取得适得其反的效果，它不仅会给佩戴面纱的穆斯林妇女带来压力，使穆斯林群体进一步边缘化，也会阻碍穆斯林妇女接受正常的社会公共服务。
联合国人权事务委员会主席尤瓦尔•沙尼（Yuval Shany）说：“委员会这两项决议并非刻意针对任何世俗国家，也不是刻意讨好某个特定民族或族群，包括我们在内的不少委员都认为面纱是对妇女的压迫与禁锢，但是，我们必须尊重每一个个体的选择，尊重她们的宗教信仰。”
沙尼主席表示，这两项决议代表了联合国人权委员会在面纱问题上的基本立场，面纱禁令的存在没有任何合理性，法国政府没有在公共利益与个体利益间找到平衡。
这也是联合国人权事物委员会首次针对面纱禁令作出回应。此前，委员会曾多次收到有关个人或族群生活方式的民事及政治纠纷，然而，对此类纠纷作出裁决，尚属首次。
未来的180天以内，法国政府必须要就面纱禁令向联合国人权事务委员会作出进一步解释。期间，法国政府必须要给两位投诉人作出相应赔偿，并且坚决杜绝此类事件的再次发生。此外，法国政府还需重新审视面纱禁令。
编辑：叶哈雅
出处：联合国人权事务委员会官网
原文：Banning the niqab violated two Muslim women’s freedom of religion - UN experts
连结：
Banning the niqab violated two Muslim women’s freedom of religion - UN experts
GEhttp://suo.im/51Ou12NEVA (23 October 2018) — In two landmark decisions, the United Nations Human Rights Committee found that France violated the human rights of two women by fining them for wearing the niqab, a full-body Islamic veil.
The two decisions, which were considered concurrently since they posed identical legal questions, are available to read in full (in French): 1 and 2.
The Human Rights Committee received the two complaints in 2016, after two French women were prosecuted and convicted in 2012 for wearing articles of clothing intended to conceal their faces in public. France in 2010 adopted a law stipulating that “No one may, in a public space, wear any article of clothing intended to conceal the face.” The law has the effect of banning the wearing of the full Islamic veil in public, which covers the whole body including the face, leaving just a narrow slit for the eyes.
The Committee found that the general criminal ban on the wearing of the niqab in public introduced by the French law disproportionately harmed the petitioners’ right to manifest their religious beliefs, and that France had not adequately explained why it was necessary to prohibit this clothing. In particular, the Committee was not persuaded by France’s claim that a ban on face covering was necessary and proportionate from a security standpoint or for attaining the goal of “living together” in society. The Committee acknowledged that States could require that individuals show their faces in specific circumstances for identification purposes, but considered that a general ban on the niqab was too sweeping for this purpose. The Committee also concluded that the ban, rather than protecting fully veiled women, could have the opposite effect of confining them to their homes, impeding their access to public services and marginalizing them.
“The decisions are not directed against the notion of secularity (laïcité), nor are they an endorsement of a custom which many on the Committee, including myself, regard as a form of oppression of women,” said Yuval Shany, Chair of the Committee. Rather, he explained, the decisions represented the position of the Committee that a general criminal ban did not allow for a reasonable balance between public interests and individual rights.
The case was the first of its kind to be considered by the Committee. While it regularly receives and rules on the practical application of civil and political rights in individual cases, it had not until now considered the question of laws which had the effect of banning the full Islamic veil.
The next step is for France within 180 days to report to the Committee on the action it has taken to implement the Committee’s decision, including compensation of the two petitioners and measures taken to prevent similar violations in the future, including by reviewing the law in question.
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23750&LangID=E
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