Hadia Tajik confirms the government will still not allow police officers to bear religious symbols as part of their uniform. Her statement comes following receiving a government-appointed committee report.
“The Committee [on Religious and Life Stance policy] has been given a pretty broad mandate, which they’ve followed. This is why they have raised this issue related to the use of religious symbols in connection with the uniform,” Aftenposten reported her as saying at today’s press conference.
As support, Minister Tajik – of Pakistani descent and the youngest governmental Minister-ever – referred to the governmental debate about hijabs in the police in 2009.
At the time, now former Minister of Justice Knut Storberget eventually opposed them after withdrawing earlier positivity amongst criticism. Minister Tajik also cited Labour’s (Ap) Party Conference two years later, at which the no Hijab decision stood.
The subject of hijabs and other religious headgear has traditionally been touchy. In 2009, Rightist Progress Party (FrP) wished to ban Muslim rituals, and burkas and niqabs the following – which was voted down. Hijabs in schools then came to the fore again, splitting politicians.
At the time, Children’s Ombudsman advisor Camilla Kayed told The Foreigner amongst polarisation concerns that, “Society has to accept that non-Norwegian religious symbols are part of a multi-cultural community. If you prohibit hijabs, you also have to impose a ban on symbols from other religious communities.”
Socialist Left (SV) Education Minister Kristin Halvorsen then subsequently discounted prohibiting the use of the hijab in schools, arguing it would be a breach of human rights.
Christian Democrat (KrF) leader Knut Arild Hareide has also censured what he saw as the Norwegian immigration debate’s one-sidedness, and the Progress Party brought their school hijab ban proposal to parliament.
In other incidents regarding religious headgear – which makes the some of the xenophobic and rather immigrant-naïve Norwegian media uncomfortable – Norway’s Sikh Gurduara Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji community warned last year that a ban on wearing turbans in the police could have legal consequences.
A Tromsø University professor also banned students wearing a niqab from his lectures. Tromsø Muslim community Alnor leader Sandra Maryam said she found this “disappointing”, and hoped it was just “a storm in a teacup”. Professor Nils Aarsæther declined to engage in further debate.
At the same time, today’s decision by much-debated Minister of Culture Hadia Tajik bucks the precedence set by the Norwegian army, allowing the use religious headgear such as kippahs, turbans, and hijabs.
Supermarket chain KIWI and Oslo University Hospital have also each introduced versions of the hijab to suit staff clothing.
The Foreigner has asked the Culture Ministry for a comment about if Minister Tajik’s decision not to allow wearing hijabs in the police also extends to turbans, niqabs, kippahs, as well as the precedence set by the Norwegian Army.