By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE
Whether they can be worn in court is still to be decided, but burqas must be lifted for passport and driver's licence photographs.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Land Transport Safety Authority demand that the veil be lifted for their proof-of-identification snapshots.
A full and clear front view
of the face on a passport is essential for security, says Internal Affairs spokesman Tony Wallace.
But there is a concession for women who, for religious or cultural reasons, do not want to reveal their faces to men.
"We respect that and, although they still have to provide a photo showing all of their face, we give an undertaking that we will only have female staff processing that information," Mr Wallace said yesterday. "It is totally in good faith and we do honour it," he said. Most people who had contacted the ministry with concerns about displaying their faces accepted the assurance.
The driver licensing rules allowed people to wear head coverings for religious reasons, but they were over-ridden by the Land Transport Act, which specified that a licence must bear a true likeness of the driver to allow police to make a positive identification.
Turbans or headscarves would probably be all right, said LTSA spokesman Andy Knackstedt. People who were veiled in public tended to be from conservative societies and were unlikely to be driving cars, Mr Knackstedt said.
A case in the Auckland District Court was adjourned this week after a lawyer objected to two Muslim women wearing burqas while they gave evidence. Judge Russell Callander adjourned the case until October for submissions on the issue.
