Austria's Islamic headscarf ban in force as under-14s go back to school
The government says the law is intended to protect the rights of young girls, but critics say it is fuelling anti-Muslim feeling.
Austria's Islamic headscarf ban in force as under-14s go back to school
As the new school year starts in Austria, a law banning headscarves in schools for girls under 14 has come into effect.
The law prohibits "traditional Muslim" head coverings, including hijabs and burkas, in both public and private schools nationwide.
Integration Minister Claudia Bauer, from the conservative People's Party (ÖVP), says the headscarf is "a sign of oppression and a means of controlling girls from the earliest childhood".
However, critics argue that the new law is stoking anti-Muslim sentiment in the country and may be unconstitutional.
The measure was introduced by the conservative-led coalition of three centrist parties: the ÖVP, the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the liberal Neos. They describe it as a "clear commitment to gender equality" and say it is meant to safeguard the rights of young girls.
Carla Amina Baghajati, from the official Islamic Community in Austria (IGGÖ), told the BBC that the organisation "firmly opposes the ban".
"We believe it unjustifiably restricts the fundamental right to freedom of religion and disproportionately affects Muslim girls," she said.
"Rather than protecting children, it singles out a specific religious practice and risks excluding the very children it claims to support."
The IGGÖ said it would back legal challenges from girls and their families "who believe that their fundamental rights are being infringed" and who wanted to take their cases to the Constitutional Court.
The court overturned an earlier ban on headscarves in primary schools in 2020, ruling that it violated Austria's principle of religious neutrality.
Teachers are expected to enforce the new ban if they see a child wearing a headscarf by holding a series of talks with the student and their legal guardians.
If the rule is broken repeatedly, child services must be informed and, as a last resort, guardians could be fined up to €800 (£685).
Some teachers have voiced concern about being responsible for enforcing the ban.
The Green Party's Sigi Maurer accused Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr, from the liberal NEOS, of "creating new conflicts and offloading them onto the teachers".
She said teachers were "already under enormous strain" and that Wiederkehr wanted to "foist the role of police officers onto them" in addition to their other duties.
The opposition far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) says the current ban does not go far enough. It is demanding a blanket ban on headscarves and face coverings in schools for both students and teachers.
The FPÖ's Ricarda Berger said there was "no place for political Islam in Austria, and certainly not in our schools".
Austria's Chancellor Christian Stocker, leader of the ÖVP, recently called for a constitutional ban on political Islam, telling Austrian public broadcaster ORF he did not "want to live in an Islamic state".
In France, there has been a ban on wearing any conspicuous religious symbols, including headscarves, turbans and kippas, in schools for more than 20 years.
The Austrian law differs from French legislation because it specifically targets head coverings worn by Muslim women.
Austria, like several other European countries including France, Belgium and Denmark, bans the full face veil (niqabs or burkas) in public.
Baghajati said the IGGÖ was worried about "a troubling trend" across Europe "in which complex social challenges are reduced to symbolic measures aimed at minority groups."
"Such approaches may generate political attention, but they rarely solve the underlying problems," she said.