(SBU) BURQA: PM TRIES TO END DEBATE, DPP

UNCLAS COPENHAGEN 000062 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/NB E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM KISL DA SUBJECT: (SBU) BURQA: PM TRIES TO END DEBATE, DPP STOKES IT (U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED--NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. ¶1. (SBU) Summary and Introduction: The Government and opposition agree that a complete ban on wearing face-covering garments such as the burqa or niqab would be unconstitutional. At the same time, the Government associates such garments with an agenda that is oppressive to women and thus contrary to Danish values. The topic gets a disproportionate amount of press in Denmark; the Prime Minister's Office has tried to close debate and restore Government unity on the matter by instructing public employers to enforce existing rules against wearing the burqa/niqab in public-sector work places, and by striving to increase the penalties for coercing anyone into wearing them. The right-wing Danish People's Party (DPP, on whose support the Government depends) intends to pursue a total ban. Meanwhile, controversial statements about Muslims by DPP representatives could affect the party's reputation and even the Government's. End Summary and Introduction. (SBU) PM SEEKS TO CLOSE BURQA BAN DEBATE -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The office of Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen on January 28 issued a press release on the outcome of a working group on the use of burqas and niqabs in Denmark, concluding: "The Government is determined to fight the view on(...) women which the burqa and the niqab symbolize. The Government therefore urges that existing rules and possibilities for actually limiting the use of burqas and niqabs be applied to the fullest possible extent." The ministers of Finance, Interior and Social Affairs were instructed to organize briefings of employers in the national, regional and municipal governments: "All public sector work places must be made aware of existing rules and possibilities, so that burqas and niqabs are not worn in central government, regional or municipal work places." ¶3. (SBU) Existing rules in this area are almost exclusively applied in a labor market context, to the effect that almost all public sectors jobs - especially those involving contact with clients - require full facial visibility. Employers in both the public and private sectors enjoy extensive freedom to determine dress-code requirements for employees; in very few cases will an employer allow the use of garments covering the face, which in practice excludes burqa- and niqab-wearing women from the Danish labor market. However, there is no blanket ban on wearing the burqa or niqab in public; the Government and the parliamentary opposition agree such a total ban would be unconstitutional. ¶4. (SBU) In addition, the PM's Office announced intent to amend the criminal code to double prison sentences for those forcing others to wear garments covering the face. It also intends to change the Administration of Justice Act so that only in rare cases allowed by the court can witnesses in courtrooms cover their face. (SBU) DPP AND CONSERVATIVES FIGHTING FOR AGENDA -------------- -- ¶5. (SBU) The Government's parliamentary support party, the Danish People's Party (DPP),has repeatedly proposed a comprehensive ban against wearing the burqa/niqab in public. The real challenge for the Prime Minister started last summer when his junior coalition partner the Conservatives proposed a comprehensive reform of integration policy that included a total 'burqa ban.' The proposal triggered immediate opposition in the PM's Liberal Party 'Venstre,' and the Conservatives were embarrassed when experts in the Justice Ministry (whose Minister Brian Mikkelsen is a Conservative) determined that a total ban would violate the constitution. The latest moves by the PM's Office are an attempt to restore unity to the ruling coalition; the Conservatives trumpeted them as a "huge victory." (SBU) DPP MP OFFENDS MUSLIMS, RISKS HURTING COALITION -------------- -------------- ¶6. (SBU) In a January 23 op-ed, DPP MP - and vicar - Jesper Langballe wrote: "Of course... should not have said that there are Muslim fathers who rape their daughters, when rather the truth seems to be that they merely kill the daughters (the so-called honor killings) - and otherwise turn the blind eye to rape by uncles." ¶7. (SBU) The PM strongly distanced himself from Langballe's statement, when asked about it at his weekly press briefing January 25. DPP leader Pia Kjaersgaard too rejected the statement shortly afterwards, calling it "stupid," while an apologetic Langballe regretted any offensive effect of an ill- considered humorous slant in his wording. Both insisted on their right to discuss the topic of honor killings, however. DPP foreign policy spokesman Soeren Espersen stressed to Poloff and Pol FSN January 28 that Langballe's remarks did not represent the party's position but were "stupid" and embarrassing, coming from a generally intelligent and experienced politician. Espersen had begun his meeting with the Embassy by good-naturedly pointing to a newspaper article calling him a "fool" - he was making the point that Danish culture is used to rough-and-tumble verbal jousting and expects people to keep a sense of humor about it. ¶8. (SBU) Meanwhile, DPP MP Christian H. Hansen quit the party last week to go independent, objecting to what he perceived as excessive anti-Muslim rhetoric. Hansen's defection does not alter the balance of power, as he pledged to continue to support the Government. Some commentators saw the DPP's continued lack of discipline in the public debate as recalling the image of a gathering of 'village fools' - that was the commonly-used label for the Progress Party that Pia Kjaersgaard quit in 1995 to form the DPP, which she has labored hard to make respectable. While Muslim-bashing plays to the DPP's base, the extremist views expressed by some DPP representatives have the potential of scaring away traditionally moderate, tolerant, and humanitarian-minded right-of-center voters and thus hurting the right-of-center ruling coalition at the next election. FULTON