Islamic Veil: The Issue of Minors

Abstract

An important aspect of the Albanian public debate on the exposure of religious symbols concerned minors. In fact, the proposed government law of 2011 was addressed to a category of public school education, that is, regarding students from kindergarten to secondary school. The Islamic veil was always at the center of the debate, but in this case the prohibition was justified as it was aimed at an age group that did not have the ability to make decisions and make choices independently, as in Muslim religion it is expected that a post-pubertal girl must wear a headscarf. In fact, in this case the decision-making passes to the parents, who have the right to educate their children according to the dictates of his own conscience. It is stressed that the same circumstance also applies to other religions, where the decision is always made by parents, such as baptism in the Catholic religion. In particular, the Article 24 of the Albanian Constitution, explicitly sanctions the freedom of each person to choose their belief and the prohibition that no one should be forced to participate in the life of a religious community or its practices. The question that arises in this case is whether this constitutional article also protects this category of subjects or only those who have reached the age of majority? The answer is complex and delicate, even to date the Albanian legislator has not remedied it since no one has appealed.Keyword: Albanian constitution, freedom of religion, religious symbols, Islamic headscarf, the right to educate your own children.