The result is that facial covering will be banned on roads, public offices, public transport, restaurants, shops and all publicly accessible places across the country.
The only exceptions are places of worship and other holy places. Wearing face ings will also be allowed if worn for health and safety reasons, due to the weather and in situations where it is considered a “local custom” to do so, such as at carnivals, according to the preamble text published by the Swiss federal government.
There will be no additional exceptions, for example tourists, as stated in the government document.
The proposal, introduced by several groups, including the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, does not specifically mention Islam, but is referred to in the Swiss media as a veil ban.
It has been criticized by many Swiss religious organizations and human rights and civil society groups, as well as by the federal government. The Swiss Council of Religions, representing all of Switzerland’s major religious communities, rejected the proposal earlier this year, stressing that the human right to religious freedom also protects religious practices such as the dress code.
The Swiss Federal Council, which serves as the country’s federal government, and the Swiss parliament also called the initiative too far-fetched and advised people to vote against it, according to government documents. Both organizations have proposed a resistance to the ban, which would require people to cover their faces and show them to police or other officials if necessary for identification purposes.
Sunday’s referendum was the culmination of several years of debate on the issue and comes 12 years after another referendum banned the construction of minarets in the country. According to the federal government’s website, two Swiss cantons – St. Gallen and Tikino – have in the past banned full-face masks. In many other cantons, full-face veils are currently restricted to protests only.
The result of the vote has been criticized by Amnesty International as “anti-Muslim”. The group said in a statement on Sunday that Swiss voters had once again approved an initiative that discriminated against a particular religious community, unnecessarily fueling divisions and fears.
CNN’s Arnaud Siad contributed to the reporting.
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