Which countries have banned the burka?
Updated
As Chancellor Angela Merkel calls for a partial ban on the face-covering burka, Germany is set to join a list of countries that have restricted women from wearing the Islamic dress in public places.
Full-face Islamic veils have, in the past, been criticised as security risks.
It is an issue Australian Muslim women have faced for more than a decade.
In 2014, Australian MPs called to ban Islamic full face veils in Parliament, pointing to similarly restrictive laws that exist in other countries.
Interim laws were introduced that would force Muslim women who cover their faces to sit separately in Parliament, in a glass-enclosed public gallery.
The rules were to apply to anyone wearing "facial coverings".
Former prime minister Tony Abbott intervened, calling for the restrictions to be overturned and for "common sense [to] prevail". The move was soon reversed by former speaker Bronwyn Bishop.
But Australia and Germany are not the only countries to consider burka bans – they join a list of countries that place restrictions on women from wearing the Islamic dress in public places.
Here are some of them.
Italy
Covering one's face — with a veil or a motorcycle helmet — in public has been banned in Italy since 1975.
Italian police fined a Muslim woman for wearing a full Islamic veil in a street in the northern city of Novara. It was possibly the first such incident in Italy, city officials said.
In 2015 the north-eastern region of Lombardy outright outlawed the burka and niqab from public offices and hospitals.
France
France was the first European country to blatantly ban the burka and niqab in public places when, in 2011, it was made illegal for women to leave their homes wearing a face covering.
Not only are there fines for wearing the veil, anyone who forces a women to wear one can be fined about $43,000 or be jailed.
Earlier this year, coastal French towns banned the body-covering burkini swimwear – a move that was defended by the French Government.
Sisco on the island of Corsica, and the Rivera towns of Cannes and Villeneuve-Loubet implemented the ban in the aim to "protect the population" after several clashes between Muslims and non-Muslims.
France's highest administrative court suspended the bans saying they constituted a "serious and clearly illegal violation of fundamental freedoms".
The nearby town of Nice then implemented its own ban, following the July 14 terror attack on the city that gained worldwide attention.
The ban was eventually suspended for defying the ruling by the country's top court.
Belgium
Following France's decision, Belgium then banned women from wearing the burka and niqab in public areas.
The country's law-makers dubbed the veil a threat to secular society and outlawed the full face veil in 2011.
Wearing a face covering veil in public could lead to fines of $21 to $35 and imprisonment for up to seven days.
Netherlands
The Dutch cabinet approved a partial ban on wearing the burka in 2015.
The bill prohibited women wearing it in public places including schools, hospitals and on public transport.
Dutch Muslims are allowed to wear the burka on the street. The ban only applies "in specific situations where it is essential for people to be seen".
Germany
Before Chancellor Merkel's announcement to a partial ban on the burka, German government conservatives agreed in August this year to make it a legal requirement for a person to show their face in places "where it is necessary for the cohesion of our society".
At the time, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said women should be forced to show their face while driving, when they register with authorities, in schools, universities, in public office and in court.
Bulgaria
Echoing western European countries, Bulgaria's parliament banned face veils in October this year.
The "burka ban" law was driven by the nationalist Patriotic Front coalition.
The ruling centre-right party said the move aimed to boost national security and ensure better surveillance.
Switzerland
A ban on face veils came into force this year in Switzerland, requiring Muslim women who break the law to pay a fine of up to $11,400.
Chad
The Republic of Chad in northern Central Africa implemented a ban following two terrorist attacks by Nigerian militant Islamist group Boko Haram that killed 20 in 2015.
Chad security forces were reportedly ordered to burn all full-face veils sold in markets.
United States
The right to wear facial coverings is protected by the First Amendment in the Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion and expression.
Canada
In 2011, Canada's Government banned Muslim women wearing the burka during citizenship ceremonies.
The country's federal appeals court found the ban was unlawful during a case in 2015 that involved a woman who had shown her face to officials during her citizenship test, but refused to attend the ceremony because she would be forced to take off her coverings.
After taking the matter to the supreme court to press its case, the government's ban was reversed because it was found to restrict freedom of religion, a core Canadian value.
United Kingdom
The UK does not have a ban on Islamic dress, but right-wing party UKIP has long called for a ban of the veil in Britain.
UKIP's leader Nigel Farage has previously said the veils were a symbol of an "increasingly divided Britain", oppress women and pose a security threat.
China
The capital of China's western Xinjiang region has banned the wearing of Islamic veils and robes in public in 2014.
The restriction in Urumqi, the city that homes China's biggest Muslim population, was the government's attempt to curb religious clothing, amid increasing nervousness about Islamist extremism.
Russia
Authorities in the multiethnic region of Russia, Stavropol, banned the wearing of head scarves in government-run schools, a decision that was upheld by the nation's supreme court.
The ban was a result of growing tensions between ethnic Russians and Muslims from the Northern Caucasus region, the ban was said to be in line with principles in the constitution on the secular nature of education.
Topics: islam, community-and-society, religion-and-beliefs, laws, germany, australia
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