Headscarf ban in Danish courts

[The Dane]

International support for Danish headscarf ban

By The Copenhagen Post
Published 21.05.08 00:00
The Danish prohibition on judges wearing headscarves has been met with support from two international judge associations
Two international judge associations have declared their support for the Danish ban against female judges wearing headscarves, saying that justices should not bear religious apparel in court.
The International Association of Judges (IAJ), encompassing judges from 70 countries, and the European Association of Judges (EAJ) representing 35 European nations, have made their stance clear on the matter.
'A citizen who enters a courtroom should feel secure standing before a judge who symbolises society's laws with the complete neutrality and impartiality that it encompasses,' said Maja Tratnik, chairwoman of the IAJ. 'Therefore, all form of attire signalling either religious or political beliefs cannot be allowed on a judge.'
The chairman of the EAJ, Virgilijus Valancius, concurred, saying that judges must appear 'neutral in the citizen's eyes'. He also added that the Danish debate would likely be a topic at the association's meeting in Finland later this week.
'It's the first time a country has discussed whether a judge should be allowed to wear a headscarf,' Valancius said.
When the matter first appeared in Danish media several weeks ago, the Danish Court Administration, an independent body under the Justice Ministry, ruled that a judge could wear 'headscarves, turbans or similar headwear as long as the face was not covered'.
However, a political stir ensued and MPs intervened, with Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in the lead stating: 'It is important that judges are not only neutral, but appear neutral.'
The court administration's chairman, Jørgen Lougart, said the administration had not specifically commented on headscarves.
'There are differing views among judges on whether one can appear neutral wearing a headscarf,' he said.
'But we think that such a case could have been dealt with by the court and would have preferred to avoid political intervention.'

http://politiken.dk/archive/00252/DF_01-05-2008_9U4R6_252318h.jpg
http://jp.dk/uknews/article1347679.ece

[Mr.K]

'A citizen who enters a courtroom should feel secure standing before a judge who symbolises society's laws with the complete neutrality and impartiality that it encompasses,

Exellent argument!

[Carib]

Let me guess where this goes next...

oh yeah a bunch of Muslims who immigrated to the Netherlands will start to burn the Dutch flag and raise hell.

I'd say that is about right. If you don't like the rules of the country you are living in then GTF out.

[Macs.]

Let me guess where this goes next...

oh yeah a bunch of Muslims who immigrated to the Netherlands will start to burn the Dutch flag and raise hell.

I'd say that is about right. If you don't like the rules of the country you are living in then GTF out.

1. It's Denmark.

2. Nothing is gonna happen at all.

[gobdav]

lol, I wonder which embassy they'll burn next over this one?

I think the argument is a sound one as well. On a seemingly unrelated note, if I can understand why Muslim countries don't allow females in their country without a headscarf on, I can understand another country reqiring just the opposite.

[NicNZ]

Wouldnt have thought there would be many female, muslim judges in Denmark

[oregongrunt]

At last, a European country stands up to the fanatics.

[LoveMeister]

I think there's a problem with the wording of the article and the whole press coverage in general.

The idea is to ban crosses, burkas, kippahs etc. in our courtrooms. It's a weakness of the argument that only the Muslim ones are used as an example.

Many muslim coutrnies won't even allow women to study to become a judge so we sould not worry about 'them' getting pissed off about all this. According to 'them' we completely lost it when we startet all this nonsens about giving women the right to wote ; ).


Cheers

[Heinemann]

Let me guess where this goes next...

oh yeah a bunch of Muslims who immigrated to the Netherlands will start to burn the Dutch flag and raise hell.
.

SURELY the followers of the "religion of peace" wouldn't do such a barbaric thing.... right?

[Niels]

Let me guess where this goes next...

oh yeah a bunch of Muslims who immigrated to the Netherlands will start to burn the Dutch flag and raise hell.

I'd say that is about right. If you don't like the rules of the country you are living in then GTF out.
Oh lordy.

Denmark -> Danish
The Netherlands -> Dutch

[lightfire]

Oh lordy.

Denmark -> Danish
The Netherlands -> Dutch

xe, who cares ' bout those little countries there, dutch, danish, manish, butch - all look the same to me, I tell ya...p-)


The chairman of the EAJ, Virgilijus Valancius

wow, he's already a chairman, nice to hear that :)

[Winger]

It's like wearing a hat indoors, disrespectful. The way I see it anyways.

[gobdav]

I think there's a problem with the wording of the article and the whole press coverage in general.

The idea is to ban crosses, burkas, kippahs etc. in our courtrooms. It's a weakness of the argument that only the Muslim ones are used as an example.

Cheers

Yeah, I think you have it right there, but I DO enjoy watching those guys stand up to all this nonsense though:)

[bigvig]

Oh lordy.

Denmark -> Danish
The Netherlands -> Dutch

I'm sure he knows the difference, he probably said Netherlands because its been in the news recently for reasons pertaining to Islamism.

Anyway, this is a great move.

[Pars]

Good for Denmark! Very very good news :D

[oregongrunt]

I think there's a problem with the wording of the article and the whole press coverage in general.

The idea is to ban crosses, burkas, kippahs etc. in our courtrooms. It's a weakness of the argument that only the Muslim ones are used as an example.

Many muslim coutrnies won't even allow women to study to become a judge so we sould not worry about 'them' getting pissed off about all this. According to 'them' we completely lost it when we startet all this nonsens about giving women the right to wote ; ).


Cheers
Which group do you think will use car bombs and death threats?

[Reaver]

I wonder how long till a fanatical Muslim guns down someone about this, like they did to that Dutch dude who made documentary's about the oppression of women in Muslim Country's. Oh yeah, anyone who criticizes Islam, is called a racist, or islamisphobic

[little icebear]

Which group do you think will use car bombs and death threats?

Does not matter. It´s a basic principle. We can´t single out one symbol of religious affiliation. It´s all or none.
It´s gotta go by the book or we loose our credibility.

[gobdav]

Does not matter. It´s a basic principle. We can´t single out one symbol of religious affiliation. It´s all or none.
It´s gotta go by the book or we loose our credibility.


Well, I'm not from over there, but I could care less about my credibility when it comes to a fanatical muslim.

[little icebear]

Once again - it is a matter of basic principles. Should we abandon the way our system works because we´re scared of some muslim loonies or what?

BTW:

When I´m talking about our credibility I do mean our system´s credibility and legitimacy. Couldn´t care less about what some radical muslim thinks about our system.
We have contitutions and fundametal laws over here and I´m not inclined to question them because I´m afraid of terrorism or shia law.

[DS73]

I wonder how long till a fanatical Muslim guns down someone about this, like they did to that Dutch dude who made documentary's about the oppression of women in Muslim Country's. Oh yeah, anyone who criticizes Islam, is called a racist, or islamisphobic

Specifically this guy Theo Van Gogh was making money pissing everybody off.
For muslims he generously allocated unique nickname: goatf*ckers.
He was killed by muslim just because one of them had smaller stomac than lefties. Pim Fortuyn had had different fate.

[Niels]

Specifically this guy Theo Van Gogh was making money pissing everybody off.
For muslims he generously allocated unique nickname: goatf*ckers.
He was killed by muslim just because one of them had smaller stomac than lefties. Pim Fortuyn had had different fate.
Are you justifying the assassination on Theo van Gogh or what are you trying to say?

[Heinemann]

Specifically this guy Theo Van Gogh was making money pissing everybody off.
For muslims he generously allocated unique nickname: goatf*ckers.
He was killed by muslim just because one of them had smaller stomac than lefties. Pim Fortuyn had had different fate.

Are you ok in the head?

[DS73]

Are you justifying the assassination on Theo van Gogh or what are you trying to say?

Since when explaining reasons became equal to justifying?

I've made remark that Theo had made many people unhappy with his presence. Just like Pim who had shake political system in Nl and rised many questions, Islam backwardness included.
First guy was killed by muslim, second by left. It would easily happened that Pim would be killed by islamist (there were threats), and Theo by some crazy ethnic dutch (there were threats), not happy about milliard of reason Theo was happy to provide.
One thing is the set of calculated actions like of Wilders, and quite another the whole life of a guy who was "living to provoke" and in the same time ignoring elementary security.

[Carib]

Oh lordy.

Denmark -> Danish
The Netherlands -> Dutch


yikes hadn't had my coffee, sorry bout that

[sikh_warrior]

law of the land if supreme and for all!

way to go Danes!

dont let the free world democracies be overtaken by religious mess!