ROTTERDAM, Nov 22 (TNS): A Dutch Commission of Human Rights has ruled in favour of a Muslim female Police officer to be allowed to wear Hijab after she claimed discrimination at the hands of police in Netherlands for not being allowed to wear a headscarf or hijab with her uniform.
The Commission said in its ruling that since her contact with the public is limited she should be allowed to wear hijab.
According to Dutch law, any kind of visible religious symbols are against the dress code of police officers, especially when they are on duty. The law explains that when the officer is on duty on the grounds they need to appear “neutral”.
The complaint, Sarah Izat, a Rotterdam-based administrative officer brought her case to the council saying that the ban posed discrimination against her and hindered her from progressing in her career.
The Commission ruled that, in Izat’s case, the law of headscarf ban could not be justified, mainly because she was not in too much of a contact with public and Izat was doing a desk job that required her taking statements over the phone or sometimes via a video projection system.
“When she is on the phone, civilians can’t see her. Prohibiting her [from wearing the scarf] therefore does not add to the intention of being neutral”, the council said, adding that the police had made a “forbidden distinction on the basis of religion”.
In Commission’s ruling it was also stated that in those cases where people are in contact with Izat’s face, via the video projection system, the scarf had no influence on her job since she only took statements from the complaints and was not authorised in any decision making like police officers.
The human rights council also rejected a claim stated by the national police that the headscarf could pose a danger to Izat’s personal safety.
According to Al Jazeera, despite the ruling being in favour of Izat, the Dutch Commission for Human Rights is an independent supervisory body which looks into safeguarding human rights in the Netherlands, it is nonbinding which means the police can decide whether or not to abide by it.
The ruling also only applies to this case and does not address the wider question of headscarves or other religious symbols worn by police officers.
“We would have liked it if the Commission had made its decision a bit broader, but we are satisfied with this ruling”, Betul Ozates, Izat’s lawyer, told Al Jazeera.
“I hope this motivates the police to look and change its code of conduct which now prohibits people from wearing a headscarf, especially because my client has been doing her job for months while wearing her scarf. She just wasn’t allowed to do it wearing her uniform”, she added.
“She was more than capable of doing her job while wearing the scarf, so we feel she should be able to wear the uniform when she does her job as well just like her colleagues.”
On Twitter, Izat responded to the decision by saying, “We won! The Commission has confirmed I have the right to wear a uniform and a headscarf. This means everything and this victory belongs to us all”!
