Burqa ban “Serves to distract attention from the essential,” says CGTP

“Those who approve such laws are not at all concerned with women’s freedom. Banning clothes, veils, or burqas is merely a means to an end,” stated the trade union confederation in a statement released today.

“Immediately, it serves to distract attention from what is essential and visible to all of us, unless we are blindfolded,” added the CGTP.

On Friday, PSD, IL, and CDS-PP approved, in general, the Chega party’s bill aimed at banning the use of the burqa in public spaces, citing women’s rights and security concerns.

The CGTP-IN emphasized that “equality cannot be imposed by taking away freedom” and that security “is not built by pointing the finger at a specific culture.”

In the same vein, it warned that the law prohibiting the use of clothing that conceals or hinders facial visibility in public spaces “is vague” and there is a “risk of abuse.”

Simultaneously, the trade union coalition accused those “voices now claiming to ‘protect women'” of being “the same ones attacking equality policies at work and in life.”

“They go along with pay inequality, want to dismantle maternity rights, watch silently as women give birth on highways, promote workplace harassment, cut support for domestic violence, dismantle public services, and endorse the current labor package, which is a true civilizational regression,” stated the CGTP.

In the union confederation’s view, this law aims to “distract attention from what is essential.”

While IL and CDS-PP declared support for Chega’s bill which “prohibits facial concealment in public spaces, except for certain exceptions,” the PSD expressed “willingness to go this route,” yet argued that “the presented text can and should be improved during the specialty phase.”

Meanwhile, the PS argued for caution in law drafting, in a context where the far-right wants to “direct hatred” against a “specific target,” in this case, the Muslim community. PCP and BE opposed the proposal, while Livre accused Chega of presenting a project deliberately “misconceived,” thus not wishing to dignify the debate.

With this initiative, Chega proposes to “prohibit the use, in public spaces, of clothing meant to conceal or hinder facial visibility,” with some exceptions. At the debate’s opening, Chega’s leader specified that the objective is to ban women from wearing burqas in Portugal, particularly addressing immigrants.

On Saturday, Amnesty International condemned the Portuguese parliament’s approval of Chega’s bill, considering it discriminatory and violating women’s rights.