Geneva Indirectly Bans Burkinis In Swimming Pools

The new law stipulates that“the only clothing permitted in swimming pools is one-piece or two-piece swimming costumes whose maximum length is above the knees and which leave the arms bare”.

This de facto excludes burkinis, which was the intention of a Swiss People's Party bill to penalise this attire, but the absence of such a provision at federal level would have been easily overturned by the courts.

+ Geneva burkini ban blocked after government rules proposal unlawful

As a result of an amendment from the Centre Party, the initial text was transformed into a new bill on public swimming pools and baths.

Carole-Anne Kast, head of the Department of Institutions and Digital Technology, had warned parliamentarians against a law that in her view violated individual freedom and communal autonomy.“The courts will decide”, she declared.

+ Is the Swiss burka ban a tyranny of the majority?

Adapted from French by AI/ts

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