Ukrainian Muslims have become one step closer to the freedom to choose how to appear for documents. Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Tatyana Kovalchuk assured the Mufti of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Ukraine "Ummah" Said Ismagilov that from November 20 this year the order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on allowing citizens to be photographed for documents in a headdress in accordance with their religious preferences or medical indicators will come into force, reports PolitNavigator correspondent.
This was reported by the publication “Ukraine in Arabic” umma.in.ua.
According to the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, as early as next week, Muslim women will be able to take photographs on ID cards, foreign passports or residence permits, without violating religious precepts.
On October 1, 2019, unified requirements for a digitized image of a person’s face came into effect, which is entered into the Unified State Demographic Register and in documents confirming citizenship of Ukraine, identification or its special status. In particular, the outdated requirement that the person being photographed be against a light background and without a headdress is being abolished.
The corresponding resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine was adopted on July 17.
Previously, Ukrainian Muslims constantly complained that they were refused to be photographed wearing headscarves and hijabs for documents. Officials argued this requirement with current legislation, in particular, regulations that regulate documentation issues. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, in turn, referred to some internal order defining the procedure for pasting photographs into documents.