Abstract

Introduction

The prohibition of public wearing of religious headwear that cover faces and its criminalization has been on the rise in several African, European, and Asian states. Overall, around 16 countries to date have introduced bans on such religious headwear as the burqa or the niqāb in public. This trend has also touched post-Soviet states that since the dissolution of the Soviet Union are on a constant path of transformation into developed and democratic states, with various degrees of success.

Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic, is notably one of the 16 states that have bans on some forms of religious headwear. The same is true of Latvia, the post- Soviet member of the European Union (EU) (albeit that the ban is not yet in force). Moreover, such post-Soviet states as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan are on similar paths and have even banned open-faced religious headwear (e.g. the ḥijāb) in public schools. These cases seem starkly different. In the case of Russia, the ban was confirmed by the Supreme Court. Conversely, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan feature populations with clear Muslim majority and their legislative measures were not adopted without any protest. On the other hand, there appears to be an overall trend that spans these post-Soviet states.