Boas in the municipality of Utrecht will soon be allowed to wear a headscarf or kippah during their work. The Utrecht city council decided that yesterday. The municipality is the first in the Netherlands to do this.
At present, municipal enforcers are not allowed to wear religious or ideological expressions during the performance of their function. This is changing in Utrecht at the initiative of the Denk faction. The motion was passed with 34 votes in favor and 9 against. The council calls on mayor Dijksma to introduce the change before the summer at the latest.
Precursor of change
Think, who submitted the motion together with the Student&Starter party and the PvdD, pointed out that Utrecht “is a great proponent of promoting diversity and inclusiveness, but that it is currently not possible for enforcers and supervisors to make a religious or philosophical expression visible.” to carry”.
In some other countries, including the US, Canada and Sweden, this has been allowed for longer and it works fine, the Denk party argued. “Utrecht would become a forerunner of social change in this area.”
The party hopes that the decision will also inspire other major cities and the police to change. In 2017, the police in Amsterdam already considered allowing headscarves as part of the uniform. That proposal was shelved after a lot of resistance.
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