WUNRN
Also via Human Rights Without
Frontiers
KAZAKHSTAN STUDENTS WIN FIGHT
AGAINST HIJAB BAN
December 13, 2011 - Aqtobe,
The students told RFE/RL on December 8 that they had been unable to attend
classes at
The students received help on the issue from the Kazakh Bureau for Human Rights
when its lawyer, Aghyzbek Tolegenov, met with university Rector Khalel
Khusainov last week.
Tolegenov told Khusainov that the university's internal regulations
contradicted the Kazakh Constitution and reminded him that "our society
should fight extremism, but not Islam."
Tolegenov told RFE/RL on December 12 that he and human rights experts from the
nongovernmental organization Coalition for Defending Human Rights and Freedoms
started a campaign on "lifting the hijab ban" at the university.
University officials then held a series of discussions involving teachers and
students that lasted until December 10. Aqtobe Oblast Imam Abdimutalip
Daurenbekov also took part in the discussions.
Daurenbekov told RFE/RL that it was decided that students can attend classes
with head scarves as of December 12.
'Do Not Cover Up In
Black'
The university's deputy rector, Bayan Orynbaeva, refused to comment on the
issue last week and told RFE/RL's correspondent to leave the university. But
she agreed to talk to RFE/RL on December 12 and said the main problem was the
color of the students' head scarves and dresses.
"They were all black, which is not a
traditional [color for] Kazakhs to wear," Orynbaeva said.
However, one of the eight female students who made the initial complaint,
Shynar Mantaiqyzy, told RFE/RL that none of them ever wore either black dresses
or black head scarves.
"Kazakhs traditionally say, 'Do not cover up in black,' something that we
all follow. Our clothes and head scarves were always of different colors,"
she said.
Another student, Perizat Moldasheva, told RFE/RL that "what we wear is not
a hijab, what we wear is called a head scarf -- a traditional part of a Kazakh
woman's dress."
The Kazakh Constitution guarantees the right of all citizens to practice any
religion freely and without any restrictions. Amendments to the law on
religions do not say anything regarding the head scarf or other religious
dress.