Belgium: Taouil's wife fired as child-care provider

Belgium: Taouil's wife fired as child-care provider

The wife of imam Nordine Taouil from Antwerp has been fired from her job as child care provider. Kind & Gezin, the Flemish children's agency, decided to stop working with her.

Taouil is a fierce opponent of the ban on headscarves in schools and came out with very strong statements in the debate. He portrays himself as the spokesperson for the Muslim community in Belgium, but far from all Muslims agree with him.

On Monday evening Alain Winants, administrator-general of the Belgian State Security service, called him an extremist on the Terzake TV show. Therefore Kind & Gezin decided to withdraw its recognition of Taouil's wife. She's been working for six years as a child care provider for KAV (Christian Worker's Women's movement).

Spokesperson Leen Du Bois of Kind & Gezin says that there's now a danger for the integrity of the children the woman is taking care of. "Her husband was now labeled an extremist in the press by the State Security Service".

The child-care provider was fired. Taouil's wife took care of both immigrant and Belgian children. There were never any complaints about the woman's work.

Last week Kind & Gezin was involved in a scandal when it became known that a family with openly Nazi sympathies was recognized by the organization. Kind & Gezin were aware of it, but stopped working with the family only after a commotion broke out.

"We understand that people will compare the two cases," says spokesperson Leen Du Bois, "but it is difficult to draw parallels. We can't ignore that the State Security agency gave a verdict here. On the basis of this we've decided to take action. We couldn't ignore it."

"We've been in contact with the State Security agency. We think that the decision there was hardly compatible with the activities of a child care provider. There was insufficient guarantee for the integration of the children being taken care of by the woman."

Source: De Redactie (Dutch)