The burka ban France implemented a few days ago signals that many European countries cling to the past and resist accepting the reality that they are multicultural societies Islam is a major presence across France and the European continent. Last year Belgium issued its own burka ban and other countries, such as Holland, Spain and Switzerland, look set to follow. While the United Kingdom has no immediate plans to introduce a similar ban, some politicians have suggested one.

With at least five million Muslims, France is home to the largest Muslim population in Western Europe. The hijab and other coverings have been controversial for years, and many Muslims felt marginalised in 2004 when headscarves were banned in classrooms. French President Nicolas Sarkozy set the process to ban the burka in motion nearly two years ago when he declared that veils imprison women and contradict secular values of dignity and equality.

Large numbers of the French population supported the ban when it was approved by parliament last year. The ban officially went into effect Monday and news that French authorities detained two veiled women captured international headlines. Demonstrations took place in Paris and London over the weekend and police arrested at least 59 people, including 19 veiled women, who turned up to protest the law.

France separated Church and State with a 1905 law, but has struggled in recent years to integrate a growing Muslim population and nuances of Islam. Under the French ban, it is illegal to wear a full-face veil in public, except in public places of worship. Women who break the new legislation could face fines of $215. They may also be required to take “citizenship lessons.” Any person who forces a woman to wear the veil will face a fine of $43,000 and one year imprisonment. The penalties are stiffer for men who force minor girls to wear the burka.

The ban is another example of the growing trend in Europe to reject multiculturalism. During a European Union Summit in Brussels earlier this year, Sarkozy called for renewed focus on the identities of countries that receive immigrants. British Prime Minister David Cameron last month pronounced that the U.K. long-standing policy of multiculturalism is a failure and called for better integration of young Muslims to combat extremism. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar have also said in recent months that multicultural policies have not successfully integrated Muslims.

The burka ban is not a step toward integration. For Muslims, many of whom agree that Islam does not require women to cover their faces see such legislation as infringing on their civil liberties and freedom of religion.

For many European Muslims, not only is there no contradiction between Islam and French identity, and many see Islam as a European religion. Indeed, Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in Europe.

There are many negative stereotypes that follow Muslim women, and clothing is an oft-used tool to demonstrate the oppression of women. To Muslim women, the veil is a source of empowerment. In France, women who wear the veil are often mistaken for being foreigners, older women or forced.

The facts dispute that. According to figures from the French Ministry of the Interior, there are only 1,900 fully-veiled women in French territory. Of those who wear the veil, 65% have French nationality, 25% are converts and 90% are under the age of 40. If there are understandable security and identity concerns, governments can require women to remove their face veil at security checkpoints in airports or when applying for drivers licenses. But the fact is that Islam and veiled women are an integral part of French society and entitled to equality under the law. France and other European societies need to accept this social reality.

Prof. John L Esposito is founding director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, an advisory board member of the British Council's Our Shared Future project and a UN global expert and author of the Future of Islam.

Sheila B. Lalwani, a former Fulbright scholar to Germany, is a research fellow at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University.

The Malta Independent is a partner newspaper with the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations and the project Global Expert Finder www.globalexperts.org Global Experts (www.theglobalexperts.org), a project of the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations