Letter from an Afghan Refugee

Assalamu Alaikum,

My name is K*****, I have been living  in Austria for one year. I am from Afghanistan. I would like to thank each one of you for coming here.

Shockingly, in the 21th century, when we have reached to the Mars, women are still being oppressed and controlled regarding on how to get dressed.

Dressing the way one wants is one of the basic human rights as freedom of speech. Austria is a free land,  where the constitution promises freedom of religious practices. Banning women from the way they want to dress ist not only against women’s rights but also a violation of human dignity.

From my personal experience in Austria, when I was in my asylum process, someone told me that I would have a better chance of positive asylum if I took off my hijab because of the islamophobic mindset of officials here. I don’t want people to decide about my life based on the headscarf that I wear.

Wearing the hijab doesn’t make me less than anyone else. It doesn’t decrease my qualification. The discrimination against Muslims must stop. This is not how a democratic country should look like. I have studied anthropology  and politics and in the future I want to be free to wear whatever I want when I work as a politician in this country.