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TWO INTERPRETATIONS OF “LIVING TOGETHER” IN EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2016

Ilias Trispiotis
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Abstract

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Council of Europe have recently recognised “living together” as a legitimate dimension of the rights of others that could justify limitations on various European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) rights, including the rights to freedom of religion and respect for private life. This article argues that the important, yet still unexplored in human rights law, idea of “living together” stems from the republican ideal of fraternity and supplements the distinctive links between democratic principles and rigorous human rights protection. Even so, its justifiability as a limitation ground depends on which conception of the idea is compatible with core values and functions served by human rights under the Convention. This article distinguishes between two main interpretations of “living together”, grounded on responsibility and conformity. It is argued that, in cases touching on our expressive conduct in public, including cases on the wearing of full-face veils, a conformity conception of “living together” sits uneasily both with firmly established case law of the ECtHR and with certain key functions of rights, such as the exclusion of moralistic majoritarian preferences as grounds for coercive prohibitions.

Keywords

“Living together”freedom of religionS.A.S. v FranceECHRconformityprivacysecularismfraternity
Type
Articles
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The Cambridge Law Journal , Volume 75 , Issue 3 , November 2016 , pp. 580 - 607
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Copyright © Cambridge Law Journal and Contributors 2016 

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References

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4 The term “necessary in a democratic society” reflects the familiar terminology of the Convention for the third stage of the proportionality test; see e.g. Articles 8(2), 9(2) and 10(2) ECHR.

5 Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe, Resolution 2076: Freedom of Religion and Living Together in a Democratic Society, 30 September 2015 (33rd Sitting).

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42 Ibid.

43 Ibid., at para. [153].

44 Ibid.

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46 Ibid., at paras. [121]–[122].

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52 At the time of writing this article, a complaint about the Belgian ban on full-face veils in public is under consideration by the ECtHR. See Belkacemi and Oussar v Belgium (Application no. 37798/13), communicated to the Belgian Government on 9 June 2015.

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60 Ibid., at p. 1. The Supreme Court held that “the ban may have the effect of confining women wearing such a dress to the home”.

61 Ibid.

62 Foblets and Alidadi, Summary Report on the Religare Project, p. 24. On the wearing of headscarves in courtrooms, see Barik Edidi v Spain (Application no. 21780/13), Judgment of 26 April 2016 (only in French).

63 S.A.S. (Application no. 43835/11), Judgment of 1 July 2014 (Grand Chamber), at [157].

64 Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe, Resolution 2076, at [1].

65 Ibid., at para. [3].

66 Ibid.

67 Ibid., at para. [4].

68 Ibid., at para. [5].

69 S.A.S. (Application no. 43835/11), Judgment of 1 July 2014 (Grand Chamber), joint partly dissenting opinion of Judges Nussberger and Jäderblom, at [5].

70 Ibid. See also, mutatis mutandis, the partly concurring and partly dissenting opinion of Judge O'Leary in Affaire Ebrahimian c. France (Application no. 64846/11), Judgment of 26 November 2015 (in French).

71 Ibid., at para. [6].

72 Ibid., at para. [7].

73 Ibid., at para. [9].

74 Berry, “S.A.S. v France”.

75 L. Vickers, “Conform or Be Confined: S.A.S. v France”, Oxford Human Rights Hub, 8 July 2014.

76 Chaib and Peroni, “S.A.S. v France”.

77 E. Brems, “S.A.S. v France as a Problematic Precedent”, Strasbourg Observers, 9 July 2014.

78 Ibid.

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88 Vallianatos and Others v Greece (Application nos. 29381/09 and 32684/09), Judgment of 7 November 2013 (Grand Chamber). Also Trispiotis, “Discrimination and Civil Partnerships”, pp. 351–57.

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94 Ibid.

95 Supreme Holy Council of the Muslim Community v Bulgaria (Application no. 39023/97), Judgment of 13 December 2004.

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104 Chassagnou and Others v France (Application nos. 25088/94, 28331/95 and 28443/95), Judgment of 24 April 1999 (Grand Chamber), at [113].

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131 Ibid., joint partly dissenting opinion of Judges Nussberger and Jäderblom, at paras. [5]–[7].

132 S.A.S. (Application no. 43835/11), Judgment of 1 July 2014 (Grand Chamber), at [153].

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135 Ibid., at paras. [12]–[13].

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151 Peck v United Kingdom (Application no. 44647/98), Judgment of 28 January 2003, at [57]. See also Bigaeva v Greece (Application no. 26713/05), Judgment of 28 May 2009, at [23]; Niemietz v Germany (Application no. 13710/88), Judgment of 16 December 1992, at [29].

152 See, mutatis mutandis, Chassagnou and Others (Application nos. 25088/94, 28331/95 and 28443/95), Judgment of 24 April 1999 (Grand Chamber), at [117], where the ECtHR held that freedom of association under Article 11 ECHR includes the right not to join an association.

153 S.A.S. (Application no. 43835/11), Judgment of 1 July 2014 (Grand Chamber), joint partly dissenting opinion, at [8].

154 Serif v Greece (Application no. 38178/97), at [53].

155 S.A.S. (Application no. 43835/11), Judgment of 1 July 2014 (Grand Chamber), joint partly dissenting opinion, at [14].

156 Mouvement Raëlien Suisse v Switzerland (Application no. 16354/06), Judgment of 13 July 2012 (Grand Chamber), at [48].

157 Stoll v Switzerland (Application no. 69698/01), Judgment of 10 December 2007 (Grand Chamber), at [101].

158 Mouvement Raëlien Suisse (Application no. 16354/06), Judgment of 13 July 2012 (Grand Chamber), at [48]; Stoll (Application no. 69698/01), Judgment of 10 December 2007 (Grand Chamber), at [101].

159 Perinçek (Application no. 27510/08), Judgment of 15 October 2015 (Grand Chamber), at [280].

160 Rawls has argued that a plurality of conflicting comprehensive doctrines, including religious, philosophical and moral, is a “fact” of well-ordered constitutional democracies. See Rawls, “The Idea of Public Reason Revisited”, pp. 131–32.

161 Art. 17 ECHR prohibits abuse of rights.

162 S.A.S. (Application no. 43835/11), Judgment of 1 July 2014 (Grand Chamber), at [25].

163 Ibid., at para. [17].

164 The full-face veil carries a plurality of meanings for women, as research from Liberty and the Open Society Justice Initiative demonstrates. See S.A.S. (Application no. 43835/11), Judgment of 1 July 2014 (Grand Chamber), at [101] and [104], respectively.

165 Ibid., at paras. [119]–[120].

166 Mouvement Raëlien Suisse (Application no. 16354/06), Judgment of 13 July 2012 (Grand Chamber), at [48]; Stoll (Application no. 69698/01), Judgment of 10 December 2007 (Grand Chamber), at [101].

167 S.A.S. (Application no. 43835/11), Judgment of 1 July 2014 (Grand Chamber), at [17], [31].

168 Ibid., at paras. [19], [103]–[105].

169 Ibid., at para. [135].

170 J. Baubérot, Les Sept Laïcités Françaises (Paris 2015), 16–18.

171 J. Habermas, “Intolerance and Discrimination” (2003) 1 I•CON 2, 6–11.

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173 The French Conseil constitutionnel has repeatedly stressed that very point. See e.g. Conseil constitutionnel, decision no. 2012–297 QPC of 21 February 2013, para. 5. Also, this was historically the constitutional role of the principle of laïcité. See Audi, R., “The Separation of Church and State and the Obligations of Citizenship” (1989) 18 Philosophy & Public Affairs 259 Google Scholar, at 295; Weil, P., “Why the French Laïcité is Liberal” (2009) 30 Cardozo Law Review 2699 Google Scholar.

174 McGoldrick, D., “Religion in the European Public Square and in European Public Life – Crucifixes in the Classroom?” (2011) 11 H.R.L.R. 451 Google Scholar, at 456. Apart from fair distribution, that principle also entails intangible forms of symbolic social recognition. See Laborde, C., “Political Liberalism and Religion: On Separation and Establishment” (2013) 21 Journal of Political Philosophy 67 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

175 Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe, Resolution 2076, at [6].

176 French laïcité has been associated with the organisation and separation of our common geographical space in order to secure peaceful coexistence of different faiths and freedom of conscience. See Weil, P., “Headscarf versus Burqa: Two French Bans with Different Meanings” in Mancini, S. and Rosenveld, M. (eds.), Constitutional Secularism in an Age of Religious Revival (Oxford 2014), ch. 11, 213–15Google Scholar. For a similar argument in the American constitutional context, see Greenawalt, K., “Secularism, Religion, and Liberal Democracy in the United States” (2009) 30 Cardozo L.Rev. 2383 Google Scholar.

177 Hammarberg, T., Human Rights in Europe: No Grounds for Complacency (Strasbourg 2011), 39–43 Google Scholar.

178 Laborde, “Secular Philosophy”, p. 328.

179 S.A.S. (Application no. 43835/11), Judgment of 1 July 2014 (Grand Chamber), at [17], [22].

180 Christian Democratic People's Party v Moldova (No. 2) (Application no. 25196/04), Judgment of 2 February 2010, at [24]; Tsonev v Bulgaria (Application no 45963/99), Judgment of 13 April 2006, at [48]; United Communist Party of Turkey v Turkey (Application no. 19392/92), Judgment of 30 January 1998, at [42]–[43].

181 Association Les Temoins de Jehovah v France (Application no. 8916/05), Judgment of 30 June 2011 (only in French); Religionsgemeinschaft Der Zeugen Jehovas and Others v Austria (Application no. 40825/98), Judgment of 31 July 2008, at [98].

182 Perinçek (Application no. 27510/08), Judgment of 15 October 2015 (Grand Chamber), at [280].

183 Peck (Application no. 44647/98), Judgment of 28 January 2003, at [57].