Šeta: If a teacher from Srebrenica is fired for wearing a headscarf, the BiH Constitution will be violated

If a kindergarten in Srebrenica dismisses a teacher solely because she wears a headscarf, it will be a violation of international human rights conventions, as well as the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina, warn legal experts, writes the news agency Patria.

Several parents of children of Serbian nationality have signed a petition demanding the dismissal of teacher Lejla Avdić from the Poletarac kindergarten in Srebrenica, because Lejla's headscarf bothers them! They fear, they stated, that the teacher will impose her religious beliefs on their children.

The president of the Islamic Community's Commission for Freedom of Religion in BiH, Đermana Šeta, opposes such pressure from parents in Srebrenica, and warned the news agency Patria that if teacher Avdić is fired solely because she wears a hijab, it will be, she says, a violation of the international convention guaranteeing freedom of religion, as well as two important laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina – the state law on freedom of religion and the Law on Discrimination.

- Wearing a hijab is a religious requirement, which Muslim women, believers, wear regardless of their formal legal education – explains Šeta, adding that believers who can work as kindergarten teachers or air traffic controllers, as we recently had the opportunity to see in the case of the first BH master of air traffic control, who also wears a hijab, wear a hijab.

- Wearing a hijab is guaranteed to believers by international and domestic laws. Therefore, freedom of religion can only be restricted by law, if there are valid reasons for it, i.e., if the exercise of religion endangers the health, morals, public order, and the rights and freedoms of other people. Thus, no one and in no other way, except by law, can prohibit the expression of religion to other people – adds Šeta.

If, explains Šeta in this specific case, there are doubts that teacher Avdić is actually imposing her religious views on students, then a disciplinary procedure must be initiated against her, which will show whether these doubts are justified or not, writes Patria.