Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Contents
- List of Cases
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- An Introduction to the Interdisciplinary Considerations of the “Burqa Ban” Trend: Criminalizing the Trivial or Separating National and International Law?
- PART I Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Strategy of Prohibition
- PART II Legal Perspectives: Religious Clothing, Law, and a Veil-Wearer’s Experiential Account
- Part II Legal Perspectives: Human Rights Perspectives
- Part II Legal Perspectives: National Perspectives
- PART III Responses To Otherness: Gender, Race, And The Veil Factor
- Epilogue
- Index
- About the Editors
Dressing Neutrally v. Religious Freedom in European “Headscarf Cases”: Looking for a Rationale to Legitimize the Ban on Concealing Faces in International (Human Rights) Jurisprudence
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 December 2021
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Contents
- List of Cases
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- An Introduction to the Interdisciplinary Considerations of the “Burqa Ban” Trend: Criminalizing the Trivial or Separating National and International Law?
- PART I Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Strategy of Prohibition
- PART II Legal Perspectives: Religious Clothing, Law, and a Veil-Wearer’s Experiential Account
- Part II Legal Perspectives: Human Rights Perspectives
- Part II Legal Perspectives: National Perspectives
- PART III Responses To Otherness: Gender, Race, And The Veil Factor
- Epilogue
- Index
- About the Editors
Summary
Abstract
This chapter addresses the question of the legitimacy of European bans on concealing faces through a comparative analysis of the international (human rights) case-law that has interpreted the wearing of Islamic headscarves as an expression of cultural and religious freedoms. Emerging from the analysis of the jurisprudential findings on this matter is the growing tendency of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) to interpret the so-called forum externum of freedom of religion in a partially autonomous way from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), basing their jurisdiction more widely on the tenor and scope of the EU Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), respectively.
The lack of total convergence in international jurisprudence on the prohibition of wearing veils has produced the inevitable effect of disorientating national judges, incapable of reaching univocal solutions in ascertaining the criteria for legitimizing the restrictions of religious rights. As this chapter will ascertain, in the attempt to facilitate domestic authorities in assessing the lawfulness of the interference measures in religious freedom, the CJEU and the UNHRC increasingly provide incisive guidance despite the margin of discretion of states in balancing individual rights with national interests as recognized by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
Introduction
The notion of religion is an inherently complex matter where objective factors and individual subjective convictions converge, to be interpreted as both the forum internum (the fact of having a belief) and the forum externum (the manifestation of religious faith in public).
The increasing importance of religion and related matters in the sociopolitical discourse has led to a considerable rise over the last 15 years in the number of cases examined by national and international courts in relation to the violation of freedom of thought, conscience and religion, often in conjunction with the prohibition of discrimination based on, amongst other things, religion and opinions.
In October 2019, the Court of Appeal of Milan rejected an appeal on lifting the burqa and veil ban in public places that came into force in Lombardy in 2016.
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- Information
- Law, Cultural Studies and the 'Burqa Ban' TrendAn Interdisciplinary Handbook, pp. 205 - 230Publisher: IntersentiaPrint publication year: 2021
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