Central Asia’s bans — outside the European spotlight
Four Muslim-majority states restricted the face veil between 2023 and 2025: Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan — with far larger Muslim populations than the European countries that get the attention.
The niqab debate is usually framed as Muslim minorities versus European states. That framing misses where much of the recent restriction has happened.
What was passed
Uzbekistan, 2023: prohibited in public on security grounds, with penalties reported at US$405 to US$810.
Tajikistan, June 2024: amendments to the law on traditions banned clothing "foreign to national culture", which in effect covers hijab, niqab and burqa. Reported fines run from 8,000 to 54,000 somoni.
Kyrgyzstan, 1 February 2025: face coverings prohibited in public under amendments to the Religious Sphere Act, with fines up to 20,000 som.
Kazakhstan, 30 June 2025: President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a law prohibiting clothing that interferes with facial recognition. Exemptions cover medical reasons, weather, and professional duties.
Why it is worth noticing
These are Muslim-majority states, which changes what the restriction is about. The European bans are argued over secularism, integration and public order between a majority and a minority. These are argued over national identity and religious authority within Muslim societies — Tajikistan's law frames the garment as foreign to national culture rather than as a security problem.
Kazakhstan's drafting is worth noting for a different reason. By prohibiting clothing that interferes with facial recognition rather than naming a garment, it avoids singling out religious dress on its face while reaching the same result — the opposite of Portugal's first draft, which named Islamic garments explicitly and had to be revised after constitutional objections as a result.
Kazakhstan's law in practice
By late May 2026, Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry reported that 1,179 people had been held to account under the ban since it took effect. By late June 2026, that figure had risen to over 1,600 — a first offence draws a warning, a repeat offence a fine of around 40,000 tenge (roughly ten monthly calculation indices).
The law itself, worth restating, covers any clothing that prevents facial identification — niqabs, balaclavas and masks together, not niqab by name. Kazakh reporting on the enforcement figures frames the count as being about niqab specifically, but the underlying statute does not appear to break the number down by garment type, and this site has not seen a source that does. Read the total as face-covering enforcement broadly, not a confirmed niqab-only count.
Sources. 5Pillars · The Times of Central Asia · AsiaNews · NewTimes.kz — 1,179 enforcement figure · CentralAsia.media — 1,600+ figure, 23 June 2026
Dates and penalties are as reported. Primary legal texts have not been consulted and figures should be treated as indicative until they are.