“Many Muslimahs Already Seized the Opportunity to Get Their ID Photo in Their Headscarves” — Mufti Said Ismagilov

On 22 November, Ministry of Interior of Ukraine held a coordinative meeting where the institution presented renewed requirements for taking ID pictures regulating, in particular,taking ID pictures in religion-motivated headwear not concealing face or it’s contours.

Mufti of RAMU “Umma” Said Ismagilov and Head of Ukrainian Muslimahs League Olha Fryndak were present at the evert. Still, Muslims weren’t the only religious group interested in the cause: representatives of Jewish and Christian communities were there as well.

The State officials presented new amended regulations for taking ID pictures, with visuals of acceptable and unacceptable photoshots. They reminded that the previous coordinative meeting had been held almost exactly a year earlier, on the Dignity Day (Den’ Hidnosty), and said it was symbolic to present the solution one year later.

Deputy Minister of Interior Ms.Tetiana Kovalchuk explained that it took a Government Decree of July-2019 and a Presidential Decree of August-2019 to complete the task.

— Adoption of these two Acts allowed us to unify the requirements for depicting a person for ID purposes. On 18 October this year, a new Decree of the Ministry of Interior “On Requirements for Digitized Photos of Persons Faces Taken for Issuing or Renewal of Documents Identifying a Person or Confirming Their Special Status or Ukrainian Nationality” was adopted. Ukraine is a multi-religion country, so it is very important for the Ministry to have a productive dialogue with every community and implement the best reforms best for all our citizens.

Another Deputy Minister, Mr.Serhii Honcharov stressed that it was a matter of respect for human rights and freedom guaranteed by the Constitution:

— The requirements are clear and acceptable for both the religious communities and us, for we, with respect for their rights, have to have visual means of identifying those persons. Those regulations correspond with ICAO standards, so there will be no conflict between our national and international regulations.

Mufti Said Ismagilov, on behalf of Ukrainian Muslims, thanked everyone involved for their prompt reaction, and told that some Muslimahs already contacted him to happily inform that they were finally able to file for renewal of their expired ID documents. They were overjoyed with the fact.

Noteworthy, a year ago Ministry of Interior and State Migration Service announced at a roundtable their eagerness to develop new regulation of ID photographs, and RAMU “Umma” volunteered to finance grafting the updated State Standard regulating the matter. The Government later adopted the new rules as Ministry of Interior direct order that was drafted using the provisions of that updated State Standard.