Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark, made the announcement on Thursday that Denmark’s restrictions on full-face Islamic veils, such as the headscarves and niqab, would also apply to universities and schools, arguing that democracy has come before spiritual expression in education spaces. The Swedish news agency Ritzau quoted Frederiksen as saying,” You have the right to your faith and to process your faith, but politics takes precedence.” She continued,” God must move aside.” The legislation has not, however, yet been applied to academic institutions. According to Frederiksen, this flaw in the law needed to be filled. She told local press,” There are gaps in the policy that allow Muslim cultural control and oppression of women at education institutions in Denmark,” according to Euronews. The prime minister, who also leads the Social Democrats, stated that her government plans to engage with universities and schools to discuss a moratorium on the use of the veil and the elimination of meditation rooms on campuses. Although she did not advocate for a general constitutional ban on such accommodations, Frederiksen made it clear that she did not desire them because she saw them as a means of oppression against girls and potential boys, as Ritzau cited her as saying. Frederiksen added that her worry was with the idea, despite not knowing how common meditation rooms were. ” I’m the Danish prime minister. I’m a person as well. And I can’t handle the oppression of women,” she said. The Danish Commission for the Forgotten Women’s Struggle, which earlier this year urged actions on what it called spiritual social power in public establishments, made the comments that the news. The same brain proposed banning headscarves in primary schools in 2022, but the decision was later dropped after provoking protests and reaction. The new plan has received criticism from human rights organizations. Organizations like Amnesty International have long opposed Denmark’s restrictions on the open veil, calling it unfair and a violation of women’s rights to freedom of expression and religion, according to news AFP. All women should be able to use clothing that expresses their identity or views, according to Amnesty International’s statement in 2018. Friedrichsen argued that the new steps were necessary to uphold democratic values in training. You can choose your religion, she said, but” when you’re at college, you’re there to be at school and take part in your learning,” according to Euronews.
