Framing Multicultural Challenges in Freedom of Religion Terms

2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 388-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katayoun Alidadi ◽  
Marie-Claire Foblets

Multicultural challenges in Europe are being framed in human rights language, and in particular in terms of the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The question is whether the practical case-by-case application of the fundamental right to freedom of religion in national and European case law facilitates a ‘deep (and normative) diversity’ in Europe or rather only allows space for a limiting or ‘conditioned diversity’ instead. While opening up possibilities for minorities to live out their lives in accordance to their deeply-held convictions, it seems to us that the human rights working frame in a predominantly ‘minimalist’ conception comes with its inherent limitations as to the management of Europe's religious diversity. While human rights purport to liberate and protect, they also impose conditions, criteria and standards that are grounded in a Western vision of law, society and religion. Religious minorities stand to gain from playing by the human rights rules as long as they accept to mould, shape and limit their claims to fit dominant conceptions, which perhaps diverge from their own understandings, needs and aspirations. Drawing on case law collected through the RELIGARE project network, this article aims to illustrate some of the limitations and confines that Europe's diverse communities face in the areas of the workplace, the public place, the family, and State support to religions.

Author(s):  
Jennie Edlund ◽  
Václav Stehlík

The paper analyses the protection granted under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights for different immigration cases. The way the European Court of Human Rights determines compliance with Article 8 for settled migrants differs from the way the Court determines compliance for foreign nationals seeking entry or requesting to regularize their irregular migration status. The paper argues that the European Court of Human Rights application of different principles when determining a States’ positive and negative obligations is contradicting its own case law. It also argues that the absence of justification grounds for the refusal of foreign nationals who are seeking entry lacks legitimacy. By treating all immigration cases under Article 8(2) the paper suggests that the differentiation between cases should be based on how a refusal of entry or an expulsion would impact on the family life. The paper also suggests that more consideration should be given towards the insiders interests when balancing the individual rights against the state's interests. These changes would lead to a more consistent and fair case law and generate a more convergent practice by the states which will increase the precedent value of the Court's judgements.


2012 ◽  
pp. 475-511
Author(s):  
Federico Casolari

Law Although EU law has established a general framework concerning the fight against discriminations on the grounds of religion (namely as far as equal treatment in employment and occupation is concerned), the related ECJ case law is not very rich. This article tracks and evaluates the impact of the ECHR case law devoted to the freedom of religion on the interpretation and application of EU law concerning religion discriminations. It argues that the ECHR case law may contribute to identify the notion of ‘religion' which is relevant for EU law, while several arguments may be put forward against the application of the Strasbourg approach to the balancing between the right to quality based on religion and others human rights into the EU legal order.


ULUMUNA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-124
Author(s):  
Zaenuddin Mansyur

In order to answer a variety of issues faced by human being in the current era, such as human rights abuses, social disintegration, and terrorism, the renewal of Islamic law in the level of theoretical and practical aspects is very urgent. This paper aims to examine one of the Islamic legal reform efforts, namely to build a more technical understanding of the concept of maṣlaḥah contained in the maqāṣīd sharī‘ah, called the al-kulliyat al-khamsah. Therefore, the concept of maṣlaḥah in ḥifẓ al-dīn is technically defined as al-ḥurriyah al-i‘tiqād (freedom of religion and schools); in ḥifẓ al-nafs as al-karamat al-insān (human being breeding); in ḥifẓ al-nasl as ḥifẓ al-usrah (wholeness and harmony of the family); in ḥifẓ al-māl as al-taḍammun al-insān (social solidarity ), and in ḥifẓ al-‘aql as al-ḥuqūq as al-tarbiyāt (increasing human resources quality).


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 244-269
Author(s):  
Christine Carpenter

Abstract Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to freedom of religion and conscience. The language of Article 9(1) has been interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights as including protections for acts of proselytism, when properly committed and respectful of the rights and freedoms of others. This was the view taken in the foundational Article 9 case of the Court, Kokkinakis v. Greece. In the decades since Kokkinakis, however, the view of the Court on proselytism appears to have shifted, in particular in Article 9 cases involving religious garments. This article seeks to determine whether the Court is consistent in its views on proselytism between these religious garment cases and earlier examples of Article 9 case law.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Nedim Begović

Abstract The article analyses the case law of the European Court of Human Rights on accommodation of Islamic observances in the workplace. The author argues that the Court has not hitherto provided adequate incentives to the states party to the European Convention on Human Rights to accommodate the religious needs of Muslim employees in the workplace. Given this finding, the author proposes that the accommodation of Islam in the workplace should, as a matter of priority, be provided within a national legal framework. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, this could be achieved through an instrument of contracting agreement between the state and the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


2021 ◽  
pp. 142-151
Author(s):  
Iulia Butnaru ◽  

Privacy often conflict with other rights and legitimate interests, at which is the question of establishing its boundaries. Obviously there are no clear limits beyond which an infringement must be regarded as permissible. Private life is a concept with an extensive interpretation, which includes different spheres of the person’s life, as demonstrated by the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. What is certain is that each person has their own opinion about the extent of privacy and this impression depends on the psychological traits of the person concerned, but also on the traditions and customs that exist in a society at a certain historical stage. The utility of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in the protection of private life and the family is that it provides precise criteria to be applied by judges to determine whether the complaint submitted under Article 8 of the Convention European Human Rights is one valid.


Author(s):  
Konstantinos Margaritis

Freedom of religion has been constantly characterized as one of the foundations of a democratic society. On the other hand, the significance of physical education in the development of children's overall personality is beyond dispute. Thus, the question that arises is, What happens in a case of a conflict involving the above? The aim of this chapter is to provide an answer on the basis of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. In particular, the fundamental cases of Dogru vs. France and Kervanci vs. France will be examined, as well as the recent case of Osmanoglu and Kocabas vs. Switzerland. Through the analysis of the cases, useful conclusions will be drawn on the possible impact of religious freedom on physical education.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 174-197
Author(s):  
Mark Hill ◽  
Katherine Barnes

Abstract The manifestation of religious beliefs under Article 9 the European Convention on Human Rights is not absolute but may be subject to prescribed limitations. This article discusses the nature and extent of those limitations, as interpreted in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights from its decision in Kokkinakis v. Greece up to the present. It contrasts the prescriptive text of the Article with its lose and inconsistent interpretation by the Court in Strasbourg. Particular attention is given to the criteria of “prescribed by law”, “necessary in a democratic society”, “public safety”, “public order, health or morals” and “the rights and freedoms of others”. It seeks to divine principles from the varied jurisprudence, particularly at its intersection with the Court’s illusory doctrine of margin of appreciation.


2009 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hemme Battjes

AbstractAccording to ECHR case-law, the Convention prohibits expulsion if violations of Articles 2 and 3 are risked upon return. Feared violations of other rights such as the freedom of religion do normally not prohibit expulsion. This article explores how the Court delimits violations that prohibit expulsion from those that do not, and which reasons the Court has put forward for justifying this distinction. It focuses on the consistency in the Court's reasoning. It is submitted that balancing human rights to inter alia the economic well-being of the Contacting states determines the outcome of expulsion cases, although this balancing is in many cases invisible, and that this balancing test rests upon the relevance of the alien status of those who invoke the prohibition on expulsion, although this relevance has not been substantiated in the case-law.


Author(s):  
Laura Šāberte ◽  
Dace Tarasova ◽  
Karina Palkova

The rights of medical practitioners are broadly defined in both national and international legislation. The scope of the rights of medical practitioners is evolving along with the development of certain sub-sectors of the field of law. One of the topical issues in the context of the exercise of the rights of medical practitioners is the right of medical practitioners to express their religious beliefs from the Labor law perspective. The right of medical practitioners to freedom of religion is to be seen as part of human rights as well. Member States that have acceded to human rights instruments that protect the right to freedom of religion do not have the right to intervene and take coercive measures to change these views. The right to freedom of religion at the level of human rights applies to a medical practitioner as an individual living in a democratic society and as a person with a medical education who is engaged in medical treatment or prevention, diagnosis and treatment, medical rehabilitation and patient care has rights and obligations within the framework of the activity. The aim of the article is to study the right of medical practitioners to express their religious beliefs in employment relations, as well as to identify problematic issues researching the case law of the CJEU and the ECtHR.


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