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The Austrian Parliament approved this Thursday, by a large majority, a legal amendment that introduces the prohibition of the Islamic veil in schools for all students under 14 years of age, with the possibility of even sanctioning its use with fines of up to 800 euros.
The measure was adopted with the votes of the deputies of the three formations that make up the Government –conservatives, social democrats and liberals-, as well as those of the main opposition party, the ultra-nationalist FPÖ.
Only The Greensan environmentalist and minority party, voted against considering that the veto is unconstitutional.
The new provision includes the possibility of sanction parents or guardians if a minor attends class with the veil starting from the next school year, which will begin in September 2026, even imposing, “ultimately”, fines of between 150 and 800 euros, reported public radio and television ORF.
The Government defended the veto of the veil as a measure to protect girlsstating that in recent years the pressure and even coercion that many of them suffer has increased, not only from family members, but also from Muslim classmates or older students, to cover their heads in class.
In those cases, “the handkerchief is not a harmless cloth, but a symbol of oppression,” said today the Minister of Integration, the conservative Claudia Plakolm.
The adopted regulations “represent a delicate legal and political balance between the fundamental values of religious freedom and the protection of children’s rights. However, in this case, the decision must clearly favor children’s rights and the protection of girls in schools,” the deputy also argued. Nico Marchetti in the plenary session of Parliament.
In a statement, the Islamic Religious Community of Austria (IGGÖ) announced today that will appeal the veto before the Constitutional Court, considering that it raises “constitutional and human rights concerns.”
“No child should be forced to wear a veil. For us, that is non-negotiable. But, equally, no child should be prevented due to state prohibitions on freely living their religious identity,” declared the president of the IGGÖ, Ümit Vural, in the note.
The Austrian Constitutional Court already overturned the ban on the use of the Islamic veil in primary schools in 2020, considering that the law, adopted in 2019 by the then coalition of conservatives and ultranationalists, violated the ideological and religious neutrality of the State.
The Supreme Court then considered that the rule referred to a single religion without specific reason, since it did not prohibit the use of other religious symbols, for example Jews or Sikhs.