Unlocking the Legal Deadlock over Dreadlocks in Kenyan Schools: Constitutional Law, Rastafarians, and Religious Freedom

IF 0.4 Q3 LAW

Oxford Journal of Law and Religion Pub Date : 2020-06-01 DOI:10.1093/ojlr/rwaa026

B. Yk

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Abstract

Legal recognition of Rastafari as a religion is a crucial step in enabling its adherents to enjoy the full scope of their religious freedom. This article considers and critiques the legal implications of the High Court of Kenya’s decision in JWM (alias P) v Board of Management O High School. In JWM, the headteacher of a secondary school decided that a Rastafarian girl who wore dreadlocks for religious reasons should be excluded from the school and only be readmitted once she had cut them as her hairstyle breached school rules. The High Court concluded that this was a violation of the student’s right to education and religious freedom. Though welcoming the JWM verdict as legally correct, this article reflects critically on how the Court arrived at its conclusion. It reviews the High Court’s reasoning in JWM and offers a constructive analysis of the likely effect of JWM on Kenyan education institutions and their uniform policies. The article advocates the need for principled, context-sensitive and methodical approaches to adjudicating freedom of religion claims so as to protect the rights of religious believers and secularists alike.

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解开肯尼亚学校雷鬼辫的法律僵局:宪法、拉斯塔法里教徒和宗教自由

在法律上承认拉斯塔法里是一种宗教，这是使其信徒能够充分享受其宗教自由的关键一步。本文考虑并批评了肯尼亚高等法院在JWM(别名P)诉O高中管理委员会一案中判决的法律含义。在JWM，一所中学的校长决定，一名因宗教原因留脏辫的拉斯塔法里女孩应该被学校开除，只有在她剪掉脏辫后才能重新入学，因为她的发型违反了学校的规定。高等法院的结论是，这侵犯了学生的受教育权和宗教自由权。虽然欢迎JWM的判决在法律上是正确的，但本文对法院如何得出结论进行了批判性的反思。它回顾了高等法院在JWM中的推理，并对JWM对肯尼亚教育机构及其统一政策的可能影响提供了建设性的分析。这篇文章主张有必要采取原则性的、对具体情况敏感的和有条理的方法来裁决宗教自由要求，以保护宗教信徒和世俗主义者的权利。

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来源期刊

Oxford Journal of Law and Religion LAW-

CiteScore

1.00

自引率

16.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： Recent years have witnessed a resurgence of religion in public life and a concomitant array of legal responses. This has led in turn to the proliferation of research and writing on the interaction of law and religion cutting across many disciplines. The Oxford Journal of Law and Religion (OJLR) will have a range of articles drawn from various sectors of the law and religion field, including: social, legal and political issues involving the relationship between law and religion in society; comparative law perspectives on the relationship between religion and state institutions; developments regarding human and constitutional rights to freedom of religion or belief; considerations of the relationship between religious and secular legal systems; and other salient areas where law and religion interact (e.g., theology, legal and political theory, legal history, philosophy, etc.). The OJLR reflects the widening scope of study concerning law and religion not only by publishing leading pieces of legal scholarship but also by complementing them with the work of historians, theologians and social scientists that is germane to a better understanding of the issues of central concern. We aim to redefine the interdependence of law, humanities, and social sciences within the widening parameters of the study of law and religion, whilst seeking to make the distinctive area of law and religion more comprehensible from both a legal and a religious perspective. We plan to capture systematically and consistently the complex dynamics of law and religion from different legal as well as religious research perspectives worldwide. The OJLR seeks leading contributions from various subdomains in the field and plans to become a world-leading journal that will help shape, build and strengthen the field as a whole.