Azerbaijan, Baku, 20 September / Trend corr. R.Novruzov / The Azerbaijani State Committee on Religious Associations denies presence of problems with registration of religious communities in the country.
їThere is not any problem with registration of religious communities in Azerbaijan, if their activity does not contradict the legislation,ї Gunduz Ismayilov, the head of State Committee Department on religious associations, told Trend on 20 September.
Under the Azerbaijani legislation, a religious community should comprise at least ten people for registrationї he said.
There is the most loyal system of registration of communities in Azerbaijan amongst the Commonwealth of Impendent States (CIS) countries, Ismayilov said.
On 20 September, the US State Department Bureau for democracy, human rights and labor spread a report on situation with freedom of religion in Azerbaijan and mentioned presence of problems in this field in the country.
The report emphasizes difficult registration system of religious communities in the country. The document criticizes cases of ban to wear headscarf ї hijab for devout women, which happened at general educational institutions in Azerbaijan in 2007 and 2008.
The legislation of the country does not envisage ban on wearing hijab and the only exclusion is photos for ID cards, which is realized for these citizensї security, the head of the State Committee Department said.
As to ban to wear hijab at educational institutions, the united uniform is applied at secondary schools and everybody should observe these rules, Ismayilov said.
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