Adjudicating Freedom of Religion and Secularism: The ECHR鈥檚 New Headache
An Annie MacDonald Langstaff Workshop presented by Fulbright Visting Professor Hilal Elver.
Abstract
In recent years the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered two judgments that touched upon freedom of religion, right to education and secularism.
The first case was about the headscarf ban in Turkish universities (Sahin v. Turkey) in 2005, and the more recent one concerned the placement of a crucifix in public schools in Italy (Lautsi v. Italy) in 2011.
Both judgments have created a huge public debate among opponents and proponents of the judicial outcomes. This issue opens up the wider debate over the extent to which European courts should be able to impose human rights law on individual states especially when the issue is related to religion.
The presentation will compares the judicial reasoning of the two judgments, as well as discuss their overall socio-political impacts. It will also address the difficult question of a supranational court's role in an era of emerging sensitivity over religious symbols, multiculturalism, and the ongoing debate about the interplay of secularism and religiosity.
Presented by the Centre for Human Rights & Legal Pluralism and by the Human Rights Working Group.
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