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- 14th December 2020
On 24th November 2020, the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh promulgated a new ordinance which shocked the nation. The Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 requires religious conversion to be scrutinised and certified by the State. Conversion to a different faith without the state’s approval would lead to imprisonment and fines. While on […]
Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler - 10th December 2020
In an article criticising the notion that the government will be determining the scope of permissible private gatherings this Christmas, Lord Jonathan Sumption claimed that ‘For Christians, Christmas is a celebration of the birth of a redeemer. For everyone, it is a celebration of life.’ This is not an uncommon attempt to universalise and, in the process, secularise […]
Caroline Mala Corbin - 18th November 2020
When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in September, the U.S. Supreme Court lost one of its last remaining champions of the least powerful members of American society. Justice Ginsburg’s deep commitment to equality manifests across many subject areas, including religion. Indeed, that she interpreted the First Amendment’s religion clauses with an eye to equality is […]
Vasiliki Poula - 21st October 2020
Stavropoulos and Others v. Greece questioned Greece’s respect for religious minority rights. When Mr. and Mrs. Stavropoulos registered the birth of their daughter in a registry office of Athens, Greece, they found out that her first name was recorded on the birth certificate with the handwritten note “naming” next to it in brackets. In Greek, “naming” […]
Ayesha Malik - 15th September 2020
Turkey’s conversion of the Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque in July this year has raised complex questions over reconciling the country’s rich cultural and religious heritage with its treatment of the minorities that form part of its varied demographic. Built originally as a cathedral in the sixth century, the Hagia Sophia has […]
Émilie Coralie Bouchard - 16th April 2020
The ongoing debate on State laicity in Québec recently took a new twist before the courts. Shortly after the enactment of the new Act respecting the laicity of the State, judicial proceedings were commenced, challenging the prohibition on wearing religious symbols while exercising certain public functions (section 6), and the obligation to have one’s face […]
Mine Yildirim - 11th April 2020
Turkey’s Constitutional Court (Anayasa Mahkemesi – AYM) issued an important judgment in May 2019, addressing State interference in the election of a religious leader, namely the obstruction of the election of a Patriarch for the Armenian community in Turkey. It found such interference not prescribed by law and not necessary in a democratic society. The […]
Tristan Cummings - 17th March 2020
Whether and how a religious marriage is recognised in law has profound consequences for couples and their children. This is the question at the heart of the Court of Appeal decision in Attorney General v Akhter and Khan [2020]. Here, the judges were faced with determining the status of a religious ceremony, conducted in a […]
Tristan Cummings - 4th February 2020
For Jewish women, obtaining a religious divorce (Get) can be life-changing. Women denied a Get are considered ‘chained’ to their husband, preventing them from re-marrying within the faith (whilst not affecting the husband’s ability to re-marry). The power to grant the Get is usually considered the unilateral right of the husband. Because a purely religious […]
Nazila Ghanea Thiago Alves Pinto - 29th January 2020
Parliamentary networks for human rights are not unheard of. Several networks exist which draw attention to the role of parliaments and parliamentarians in the promotion and protection of human rights, for example, the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)’s Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians. The UN General Assembly, the […]
Jonathan Cooper - 1st March 2019
In my last post, I argued that the judgment in Gareth Lee v Ashers Bakery is the consequence of the failure to follow a structured human rights assessment. This is why. Gareth Lee is gay and lives in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland denies gay men and lesbians the right to marry. Gareth went to a […]
Jonathan Cooper - 1st March 2019
What if? What if the UK House of Lords (as the UK Supreme Court then was) had left the judgment of Lord Justice Brooke in Begum in the Court of Appeal intact? Brooke LJ in that case held that the school uniform policy of Denbigh High School was unlawful under the Human Rights Act because, […]