The Right to Religious Freedom in International Law: Between Group Rights and Individual Rights (Routledge Research in Human Rights Law)

281 Pages·2011·1.86 MB·English

by  Anat Scolnicov

The Right to Religious Freedom
in International Law
This book analyses the right to religious freedom in international law, drawing on
an array of national and international cases. Taking a rigorous approach to the right
to religious freedom, Anat Scolnicov argues that the interpretation and applica-
tion of religious freedom must be understood as a confl ict between individual and
group claims of rights, and that although some states, based on their respective
histories, religions, and cultures, protect the group over the individual, only an
individualistic approach of international law is a coherent way of protecting
religious freedom. Analysing legal structures in a variety of both Western and non-
Western jurisdictions, the book sets out a topography of different constitutional
structures of religions within states and evaluates their compliance with interna-
tional human rights law. The book also considers the position of women’s religious
freedom vis-à-vis community claims of religious freedom, of children’s right to
religious freedom and of the rights of dissenters within religious groups.
Anat Scolnicov is lecturer and fellow in law of Lucy Cavendish College and
deputy director of the Centre for Public Law, University of Cambridge.
Routledge Research in Human Rights Law
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The Right to Religious
Freedom in International Law
Between group rights and
individual rights
Anat Scolnicov
First published 2011
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2011 Anat Scolnicov
The right of Anat Scolnicov to be identifi ed as author of this work has
been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patent Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Scolnicov, Anat.
The right to religious freedom in international law : between group rights and
individual rights / Anat Scolnicov.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-415-48114-4 (hardback) – ISBN 978-0-203-84263-8 (ebook)
1. Freedom of religion. 2. Freedom of religion (International law)
3. Human rights. 4. Women–Legal status, laws, etc. 5. Children–Legal
status, laws, etc. 6. Freedom of speech. I. Title.
K3258.S46 2011
342.08´52–dc22 2010012076
ISBN 0-203-84263-4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 10: 0-415-48114-7 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0415-48114-4 (hbk)
ISBN 10: 0-203-84263-4 (ebk)
ISBN 13: 978-0203-84263-8 (ebk)
Dedicated to the memory of my grandparents,
Sonia Bergmann, Felix Bergmann, and Israel Shekel

Contents
Table of abbreviations xvi
Table of authorities xvii
Table of cases xxi
Table of statutes xxix
Preface xxxii
Introduction 1
1 Existing protection of religious freedom in
international law 9
1.1 Historical underpinnings 9
1.2 Right to freedom of religion in the major UN documents 11
1.3 The International Human Rights Covenants 12
1.4 The UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance
and of Discrimination Based on Religion and Belief (1981) 13
1.5 International documents relating to national, religious and linguistic
minorities and to indigenous peoples 14
1.6 Regional instruments 16
1.6.1 The A mericas 16
1.6.2 Africa 16
1.6.3 Europe 16
Notes 18
2 Why is there a right to freedom of religion? 23
2.1 Introduction 23
2.2 Can freedom of religion be a group right? 24
2.2.1 What would a group right be? 25
2.2.2 How to identify a group 26
2.2.2.1 Self-identifi cation 26
2.2.2.2 Identifi cation by the group 26
2.2.2.3 Objective identifi cation 27