The European Court of Human Rights and Minority Religions

The European Court of Human Rights and Minority Religions
Author: Effie Fokas
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2020-04-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0429954409

This book includes a collection of studies focused on engagements of religious minorities with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Beginning with an introduction of the global importance of the ECtHR as a standard setter in the protection of religious minority rights, the subsequent five chapters entail critical assessments of some of the Court’s case law dealing with religious minority claims (exploring their clarity and consistency – or lack thereof – and controversiality). In the process these texts impart a nuanced perspective on the challenges the Court faces in striking the right balance between protecting individual freedoms and respecting state rights to manage ‘nationally’ and ‘culturally’ sensitive matters. The second set of contributions makes readers privy to the varied results of this balancing act on the ground. Specifically, it offers empirically-based insight into the impact of the Court’s religion-related case law on grassroots religious minority groups working to defend their individual and communal rights. The chapters taken together deepen our understanding of the ECtHR in its approach to and impact on religious minorities and offer a rare vantage point on the Court, from the messages its generates to the messages received by religious minorities at the grassroots level. The chapters in this book were originally published in Religion, State & Society, the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs and Democratization.

Protecting the Religious Freedom of New Minorities in International Law

Protecting the Religious Freedom of New Minorities in International Law
Author: FABIENNE. BRETSCHER
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2021-06-30
Genre:
ISBN: 9781032088907

This book examines the interpretation and application of the right to freedom of religion and belief of new minorities formed by recent migration by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC). New minorities are increasingly confronted with restrictions of their religious practices and have addressed their rights claims both to the ECtHR and the HRC through their individual complaint procedures, which resulted in several contradicting decisions. Based on a quantitative and qualitative empirical analysis of the relevant case law, focusing in particular on the reasoning adopted by the two bodies, this book finds that the HRC in its practice offers a significantly higher level of protection to new minorities than the ECtHR. Such divergence may be explained by various institutional and conceptual differences, of which the concept of the margin of appreciation is the most influential. It is contended that the extensive use of the concept of the margin of appreciation by the ECtHR in the case law regarding new minorities' right to freedom of religion and belief, and the absence of such concept in the HRC's case law, could be explained by different understandings of the role of an international human rights body in conflicts between the majority and minorities. This book argues that such divergence could be mitigated with various tools, such as the inclusion of cross-references to the case law of other relevant bodies as well as to instruments specifically established for the protection of minorities. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers and practitioners in the area of international human rights law, international public law in general and law and religion.

Legal Code of Religious Minority Rights

Legal Code of Religious Minority Rights
Author: Daniele Ferrari
Publisher:
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2021
Genre: Religious minorities
ISBN: 9780367858445

This volume presents a systematic collection of the various international legal sources that define the rights of religious minorities. In a time of increasing tensions around religious minorities, this volume presents a systematic collection of international and European documents on the protection and promotion of religious minorities' rights. The code includes documents from the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the European Union. An index system connects the various sources and norms, and emphasizes the strengths and the weaknesses in the legal frameworks of international and European institutions. While allowing for further research on the historical and conceptual development in the area, the code provides the reader with a new, easily accessible tool facilitating experts and actors who wish to improve the knowledge and protection of religious minorities. This book will be an invaluable resource for students, academics and researchers interested in law and religion, international law, public law and human rights law, the code is also a powerful tool for minorities themselves, and for advocates of their rights.

Reactions to the Law by Minority Religions

Reactions to the Law by Minority Religions
Author: Eileen Barker
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2020-12-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1000333248

Much has been written about the law as it affects new and minority religions, but relatively little has been written about how such religions react to the law. This book presents a wide variety of responses by minority religions to the legal environments within which they find themselves. An international panel of experts offer examples from North America, Europe and Asia demonstrating how religions with relatively little status may resort to violence or passive acceptance of the law; how they may change their beliefs or practices in order to be in compliance with the law; or how they may resort to the law itself in order to change their legal standing, sometimes by forging alliances with those with more power or authority to achieve their goals. The volume concludes by applying theoretical insights from sociological studies of law, religion and social movements to the variety of responses. The first systematic collection focussing on how minority religions respond to efforts at social control by various governmental agents, this book provides a vital reference for scholars of religion and the law, new religious movements, minority religions and the sociology of religion.

The European Court of Human Rights and the Rights of Marginalised Individuals and Minorities in National Context

The European Court of Human Rights and the Rights of Marginalised Individuals and Minorities in National Context
Author: Dia Anagnostou
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2009-11-02
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9047426738

This volume explores the role of the ECtHR in protecting marginalised individuals and minorities. What factors and conditions have led growing numbers of such individuals and minorities to pursue their rights and freedoms in front of the ECtHR and how has the latter responded to these? Does the Convention and the jurisprudence of the Strasbourg Court enhance the protection of vulnerable groups at the national level and expand their rights? Or do they mainly tend to fill in relatively minor gaps or occasional lapses in national rights guarantees? Comprising a set of eight country-based case studies, this volume examines litigation on behalf of marginalised individuals and minorities, and the relevant ECtHR jurisprudence across the following countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, Turkey and the UK.

Minority Rights Jurisprudence Digest

Minority Rights Jurisprudence Digest
Author: Alcidia Moucheboeuf
Publisher: Council of Europe
Total Pages: 752
Release: 2006-01-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9287159564

This publication contains information on the statements and judgements made in minority rights court cases by the following international bodies: the European Court of Human Rights (Council of Europe); the African Commission on Human and People's Rights; the European Court of Justice (European Union); the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the International Court of Justice; the Permanent Court of International Justice and the United Nations Human Rights Committee. The information is organised under the following subject headings: assembly; association; discrimination; due process; education; effective participation; existence; expression; family life; group identity; international aspects; limitations, derogations and restrictions; linguistic rights; minority issues; religion; and socio-economic rights. A list of case summaries and the text of selected major international conventions in this field are included as annexes.

European Court of Human Rights

European Court of Human Rights
Author: Dia Anagnostou
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2013-04-22
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0748670580

Since the turn of the millennium, the European Court of Human Rights has been the transnational setting for a European-wide 'rights revolution'. One of the most remarkable characteristics of the European Convention of Human Rights and its highly acclaimed judicial tribunal in Strasbourg is the extensive obligations of the contracting states to give observable effect to its judgments. Dia Anagnostou explores the domestic execution of the European Court of Human Rights' judgments and dissects the variable patterns of implementation within and across states. She relates how marginalised individuals, civil society and minority actors strategically take recourse in the Strasbourg Court to challenge state laws, policies and practices. These bottom-up dynamics influencing the domestic implementation of human rights have been little explored in the scholarly literature until now. By adopting an inter-disciplinary perspective, Anagnostou goes beyond the existing studies--mainly legal and descriptive--and contributes to the flourishing scholarship on human rights, courts and legal processes, and their consequences for national politics.

Law and the Wearing of Religious Symbols in Europe

Law and the Wearing of Religious Symbols in Europe
Author: Erica Howard
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2021-06-30
Genre:
ISBN: 9781032088754

Written in accessible language, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of a topical subject that is being widely debated. Fully updated to take account of recent case law, this 2nd edition has been expanded to consider bans in public spaces more generally, including employment, an area where some of the recent developments have taken place.

Freedom of Religion

Freedom of Religion
Author: Paul M. Taylor
Publisher:
Total Pages: 437
Release: 2006-01-12
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0511134088

A critique of the treatment of the right to freedom of religion within the UN and Europe, first published in 2005.

The Right to Religious Freedom in International Law

The Right to Religious Freedom in International Law
Author: Anat Scolnicov
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 383
Release: 2010-10-18
Genre: Law
ISBN: 113690705X

This book analyses the right to religious freedom in international law, drawing on an array of national and international cases. Taking a rigorous approach to the right to religious freedom, Anat Scolnicov argues that the interpretation and application of religious freedom must be understood as a conflict between individual and group claims of rights, and that although some states, based on their respective histories, religions, and cultures, protect the group over the individual, only an individualistic approach of international law is a coherent way of protecting religious freedom. Analysing legal structures in a variety of both Western and Non-Western jurisdictions, the book sets out a topography of different constitutional structures of religions within states and evaluates their compliance with international human rights law. The book also considers the position of women's religious freedom vis-à-vis community claims of religious freedom, of children’s right to religious freedom and of the rights of dissenters within religious groups.