Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz is blowing the whistle on municipalities and wants to ban headscarves in boas nationwide.
Minister Yesilgöz has announced that there will be a national ban on the wearing of headscarves by special investigating officers (BOAs). This step is a response to the decision of some Dutch municipalities to allow their law enforcement officers to wear religious symbols such as headscarves and yarmulkes. Amsterdam, Arnhem, The Hague, Tilburg, and Utrecht are some of the cities offering this opportunity, in the hope of attracting more people from diverse religious backgrounds to work within the municipality.
Yesilgöz, Minister of Justice, has clearly spoken out against this policy. In 2022, she introduced a guideline for the uniform of boas, which prohibits the display of visible religious, political or sexual expressions. After discussions with the relevant municipalities, which, according to Yesilgöz, did not yield sufficient results, she decided to intervene from the national government. She emphasizes the need for neutrality within the police and enforcement: “It is not called a uniform for nothing. This does not include religious expressions.”
According to the minister, it has nothing to do with excluding people of a certain religion. "I think it is very bad that this debate is being drawn into discrimination, exclusion or even misogyny."
However, the Minister acknowledges that women wearing a headscarf can certainly play a role within enforcement or the municipality, but in positions that are not directly related to maintaining order on the street. This position underlines the importance it attaches to the separation of church and state, which it believes is necessary to maintain a neutral and impartial public service.
More and more municipalities, such as Amsterdam and Arnhem, are allowing law enforcement officers to wear a headscarf. Outgoing Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz is strongly against this and will legally enforce that this does not happen.
The move towards a nationwide ban is unlikely to be an uphill battle for Yesilgöz, even though she is currently on resign. An earlier motion for lifestyle neutrality within the police, which would also apply to boas, already received broad support in the House of Representatives in 2021, with parties such as PVV, VVD, BBB, SP, SGP, JA21, FvD, and Pieter Omtzigt who expressed their support. Since the last elections, support for such measures has only grown.
The direct effect of a headscarf ban on the street scene is still uncertain. An investigation by Het Parool showed that in cities such as Utrecht and Arnhem, where wearing a headscarf is allowed, no one has so far reported to use it. This points to a complex dynamic between the desire to promote diversity and inclusivity within government and the need to ensure a neutral image in enforcement and policing.
