Civil servants allowed to wear niqab, but required to display ID tags

The Civil Service Regulation has been amended to allow civil servants to wear niqabs for work.

The amendment made on Sunday to Article 145 (a) of the Civil Service Regulation details the attire of civil servants.

The amendment states that civil servants must wear appropriate clothing at work and must wear identification cards or tags if the nature of their work requires them to identify themselves.

This provision previously stipulated that civil servants must wear clothing that makes them easily identifiable during work as it is important that all civil servants must provide services responsibly and with accountability, and customers and the people they communicate with must know who they are.

The old provision had previously excluded women who wear the niqab from working in civil service.

But the new amendment allows civil servants to wear the niqab, as long as they wear IDs.

The move comes two weeks after a similar regulatory change that allowed judicial employees to wear the niqab for work.