"France's Parliament banned the burqa, niqab and other full-body robes worn by some Muslim women, by passing a law forbidding people to conceal their faces in public.

The bill passed Tuesday after a final vote in the Senate, the upper house of Parliament, and is scheduled to come into force after a six-month observation period. It has already passed the National Assembly. At the Parliament's request, the law will be reviewed by France's Constitutional Council before it is formally promulgated.

'Showing one's face is a question of dignity and equality in our republic,' said Justice Minister Michéle Alliot-Marie during Tuesday's debate in the Senate.

The vote came as a number of European countries are trying to figure out how to reconcile the values of modern Europe with more assertive expressions of Islamic faith. Some countries, such as the U.K., have over the decades encouraged the expression of immigrant cultures and religions under the principle of multiculturalism.

But others have taken the position that it is more important for immigrants and their descendants to adopt the values of the country they have settled in. Switzerland, for example, banned the construction of minarets after a referendum last year. Belgium and Spain are discussing measures to outlaw the niqab."