Caretaker justice minister Dilan Yesilgöz has said she will supersede local council powers to allow city wardens to wear a headscarf or yarmulke on duty by making uniform clothing a legal requirement.

The minister has issued a guideline for local councils saying symbols of faith, such as head coverings, should not be allowed because it would affect neutrality.

Several local councils, including Arnhem, Tilburg and most recently Amsterdam, have said they regard the wearing of religious symbols as part of the freedom of religion and that it promotes integration.

Yesilgöz, who has the support of a majority of MPs and the wardens’ union, said dialogue with the local councils had come to nothing. “We will have to solve this in another way,” she told current affairs programme EenVandaag.

The minister denied she wanted to exclude people of certain religions. “This is about the separation of church and state, which is necessary and not old-fashioned at all,” she said.

Human rights organisation College voor de Rechten van de Mens said the minister’s plans were “stigmatising and ineffective” and would “hurt the social participation and independence of a big group of women”.

“A ban on religious symbols or clothing will, in practice, particularly hit girls and women who feel wearing a headscarf is a religious duty,” a spokesman said. Neutrality is a matter of conduct, not clothing, the organisation stated.