New rules: The law, if passed, would make it illegal to force a woman to cover her face with a religious veil (file photo)

The Swiss government has proposed making it illegal to force a woman to cover her face with a religious veil.

The law would see anyone found guilty of forcing a woman to wear a niqab or burqa with up to three years in jail.

It is widely seen as an attempt to calm the heated debate on whether Switzerland should ban all face veils in public.

The issue is already set to be put to a national referendum after a successful grassroots movement campaign last year.

Measures against the wearing of Islamic veils have already been taken in Belgium, France, Denmark and Spain, among others, with the Netherlands passing its own ban this week.

The Swiss cabinet does not want a nationwide ban, and has said it should be up to the individual cantons whether or not they would outlaw religious veils in public.

'The government is aware that facial coverings can lead to problems,' the cabinet said after a meeting Wednesday

'With its proposals it suggests targeted and specific legal measures in areas in which it has authority.

'The initiative would make it impossible to take into account the individual cantons' differing sensitivities, in particular removing their ability to determine for themselves how they wish to treat tourists from Arab states who wear facial coverings,' it added.

A nationwide face veil ban will come to a binding referendum in Switzerland, after activists from a group called 'Yes to a Mask Ban' collected the more than 100,000 signatures required to put the proposal to a vote.

Protection: The law would see anyone found guilty of forcing women to wear niqabs or burqas, a traditional garment in some Muslim cultures, with up to three years in jail

The group handed over the signatures to authorities last year, however no date has been set for the referendum.

'Facial coverings are a symbol of radical Islam that have nothing to do with religious freedom but are rather an expression of the oppression of women,' Anian Liebrand, a Swiss campaign leader, said when presenting the collected signatures.

'In Switzerland, we show our faces when we talk to each other.'

Two-thirds of Switzerland's 8.5 million residents identify as Christians. But its Muslim population has risen to 5 percent, largely because of immigrants from former Yugoslavia.

Full-face coverings such as niqabs and burqas are a polarising issue across Europe, with some arguing that they symbolise discrimination against women and should be outlawed, and others say bans encroach on religious freedom.

The Dutch upper House of parliament on Tuesday passed a law banning the wearing of face-covering veils in public buildings, such as schools, government offices and hospitals.

France's ban was upheld in 2014 by the European Court of Human Rights. Germany's parliament last year backed a ban on full-face veils for civil servants, judges and soldiers, while Austria and Bulgaria have also banned facial coverings.