Swiss government urges voters to reject ban on full facial coverings

Referendum will be held in March over a change to the constitution

An Arab woman at sunset at Lake Geneva, Switzerland ahead of a referendum on wearing of the burqa. Alamy

The Swiss government recommended on Tuesday that voters reject a proposal in a planned March 7 referendum to ban full facial coverings such as burqas and niqabs worn by some Muslim women, saying the move would hurt tourism.

Under Switzerland's system of direct democracy, any proposal to change the constitution goes to a popular vote if supporters amass more than 100,000 signatures. In 2009, Swiss voters backed a proposal to ban the construction of new minarets.

The Swiss cantons of St. Gallen and Ticino have already banned full face coverings in regional votes but the federal government said following through with a nationwide constitutional ban was a bad idea.

"Very few people in Switzerland wear a full facial covering," a government statement read. "A nationwide ban would undermine the sovereignty of the cantons, damage tourism and be unhelpful for certain groups of women."

Most women who wear full facial coverings are tourists and only spend a brief time in the country, the government said.

Montreux and other destinations around Lake Geneva, as well as Interlaken in central Switzerland, traditionally attract some Muslim tourists mainly from the wealthy Gulf Arab states.

France and Denmark have also banned facial coverings, citing efforts to uphold secular values and combat discrimination against women.

Switzerland's proposal also forbids forcing somebody to wear a facial covering based on gender.

The group behind the burqa ban proposal – the Egerkinger Komitee that includes members of the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) – was also behind the 2009 move to ban minarets, which was approved by nearly 60 per cent of voters.

Supporters of the 2009 proposal saw the minarets as alien to Swiss traditions and values at a time of growing unease over the activities of Islamist extremists in Europe and the Middle East.

Muslims make up only about 5 per cent of Switzerland's 8.6 million people, official statistics show.

The Swiss government has made a counter-proposal to the facial covering ban that would come into force if voters reject the initial proposal on March 7. This would require women wearing a covering to reveal their face if necessary for identification at administrative offices or on public transport.