Islamic headscarves, sikh turbans, crucifixes and proselytism : what has become of religious freedom in Europe? : journal

• Date: 01 January 2014
• Pages: 194-206
• Author: George Barrie
• DOI: 10.10520/EJC162990
• Published date: 01 January 2014

GA Res 217 A(111) 10 December 1948.

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999 UNTS 171; (1967) 6 ILM 368.

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(1982) 21 ILM 58.

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1144 UNTS 123; 1970 9 ILM 673.

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213 UNTS 221; European TS 5.

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1981 UNGAR 55(VI) (1982) 21 ILM 205. See Sullivan ‘Advancing the freedom of religion or belief

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through the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Religious Intolerance and Discrimination’ (1988)

82 AJIL 487.

Van der Vyver and Witte (eds) Religious human ights in global perspective (1996).

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Islamic headscarves, sikh turbans,

crucifixes and proselytism: What has

become of religious freedom in Europe?

1 Introduction

Religious freedom as a right is expressed in article 18 of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights; article 18(1) of the International Covenant on Civil

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and Political Rights; article 8 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples

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Rights; article 12 of the American Convention on Human Rights and article 9 of

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the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental

Freedoms (ECHR) Also deserving mention is the United Nations Declaration on

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the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on

Religion or Belief.6

It is trite that no single topic generates greater controversy than the

relationship between the state institutionalisation of religion or a religious belief

and human rights norms. Religious beliefs and human rights can be

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complimentary in that they convey similar sentiments. On the other hand it can

be submitted that religious practices may impinge on human rights where the

primacy of such practices, for example, is asserted over human rights. One finds

secular states that seek to limit the role of any organised religion. At the other

extreme there are fundamentalist states that do not tolerate other forms of

religious expression. States vary from supporting religious culture, to neutrality

and to active opposition to religious teachings and demands. The spectrum is

wide ranging from a strict separation between church and state in the United