A NEW Dutch law today bans face-covering clothing including the burka and niqab worn by Muslim women.

The partial ban means people cannot cover their faces on public transportation, in government buildings and at health and education institutions.

2 The Netherlands has passed a new law which bans face coverings in public buildings and on public transports Credit: EPA

The Netherlands, long seen as a bastion of tolerance and religious freedom, is the latest European country to introduce such a ban, following the likes of France, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Denmark.

Muslim rights groups have voiced opposition to the law formally called the "partial ban on face-covering clothing".

And an Islamic political party in Rotterdam has said it will pay the €150 fines for anybody caught breaking it.

There were no immediate reports this morning of anybody being fined under the new law, which was passed despite the fact that very few women in Holland wear a burka or niqab.

In fact, estimates put the number at a few hundred in this nation of 17 million.



'PARTIAL BAN'

Far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders welcomed the introduction of the limited ban as "a historic day" and called for it to be expanded to include Islamic headscarves.

"I believe we should now try to take it to the next step," Wilders told The Associated Press.

"The next step to make it sure that the headscarf could be banned in the Netherlands as well."

The Dutch government has insisted that its partial ban doesn't target any religion and that people are free to dress how they want.

SUPPORTED BY FAR-RIGHT

A government site explaining the new ban says, however, that "this freedom is limited at locations where communication is vital for good quality service or for security in society."

Wilders dismissed that explanation as political correctness.

Interior Minister Kajsa Ollongren, who wasn't available for comment today, said earlier this year that the government will evaluate the new law after three years.

It remains to be seen how strenuously the law will be enforced in the Netherlands.

2 Islamic rights groups are opposed to the new controversial new law Credit: EPA

The national federation of academic hospitals said in a statement that enforcement is up to police and prosecutors.

It added: "We are not aware of any cases in which wearing face-covering clothing or a possible ban has led to problems" in health care.

The head of the umbrella organisation of public transport companies also has said that bus drivers and train conductors don't have the power to enforce it and would have to leave it up to police.

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The Dutch ban came into force eight years after France became the first European nation to ban the public use of veils, both face-covering niqabs and full-body burkas.

A 2004 law also bans Muslim hijab headscarves and other prominent religious symbols from being worn in state schools, but doesn't apply in universities.

France's tough law fell foul of the UN Human Rights Committee, which last year ruled that the country violated the human rights of two women by fining them for wearing the niqab.

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