Bans on the Wearing of Religious Symbols in British Schools: A Violation of the Right to Non-Discrimination?
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AbstractBans on the wearing of religious symbols in education have been said to violate the right to freedom of religion and/or anti-discrimination legislation. This article builds on an earlier article published in this journal which examined whether bans constitute a violation of the fundamental human right to freedom of religion. It analyses such bans as a breach of anti-discrimination measures by looking at cases of the European Court of Human Rights and the British courts. This analysis leads to the conclusion that a claim based on anti-discrimination law is not likely to be more successful in court than a claim based on freedom of religion because similar issues are taken into account in both decisions.