Contenuti per la categoria: Atlas of religious or belief minority rights

The Atlas of Religious or Belief Minority Rights in the EU: First remarks on Belief Organisations

ABSTRACT: This paper focuses on the first results of the Atlas of Religious or Belief Minority Rights in the EU regarding the legal status of Belief Organisations. The first part of this work describes “Belief Organisations”, focusing on why they are included in the Atlas, and analyses the growth of atheism and agnosticism in the countries covered by the project. The second part focuses on some of the findings that emerge from Atlas data, providing a few (provisional) remarks.

ABSTRACT: Il contributo analizza alcuni primi risultati dell’Atlas of Religious or Belief Minority Rights in the EU in relazione allo status giuridico delle “belief organisations”. Dopo aver delimitato il perimetro definitorio delle “belief organisations”, il lavoro illustra le ragioni della loro inclusione all’interno del progetto e la diffusione del fenomeno ateo e agnostico nei Paesi coinvolti nell’Atlas. Il contributo formula alcune prime osservazioni sui risultati emersi dai dati analizzati.

SUMMARY: 1. The Atlas of Religious or Belief Minority Rights in the EU: a brief introduction - 2. Belief Organisations as actors in the religious field - 3. The religious demography of atheism and agnosticism - 4. About Belief Organisations - 5. Focus on Belief Organisations: first findings.

The protection of the Islamic minority beyond religious freedom: legal pluralism and reasonable accommodation in Europe

ABSTRACT: In Europe's diverse societal landscape, the Islamic minority, or a significant portion thereof, seeks to navigate life under Sharia law, especially concerning family matters. Despite the fact that the application of Sharia law, where permitted, has demonstrated its ability to adapt to the legal context, as in the case of Islamic arbitration, in the case of family law, the perception of an irreducible contrast with the values of Western countries appears particularly strong producing an inevitable paradox in relation with freedom of religion that may be restricted by the legal system. The core paradox lies in the potential infringement on religious freedom if Muslims were asked to forsake religious tenets or practices that align with the foundational principles of the legal system. Modern legal frameworks are thus challenged to find methods to harmonize the identity assertions of Islamic communities with the safeguarding of individual rights within these communities. With no specific safeguards for religious minorities, this study scrutinizes jurisprudence on family law from selected European courts. The objective is to unearth effective legal tools that respect the Islamic community's minority religious identity while upholding the essential tenets of the legal system, fostering a balance between collective religious identity and individual rights protection in a multicultural Europe.

ABSTRACT: Nell'eterogeneo tessuto sociale dell'Europa, una parte rilevante della minoranza islamica aspira a condurre la propria vita secondo i precetti della Sharia, in particolare per quanto concerne le questioni di diritto di famiglia. Sebbene l'applicazione Sharia, laddove consentita, abbia dimostrato una capacità di adattamento al contesto giuridico europeo, come avviene nel caso dell'arbitrato islamico, la gestione delle questioni di carattere familiare può evidenziare percezioni che contrastano con il sistema di valori occidentali, generando un paradosso in relazione al rispetto della libertà religiosa. Tale paradosso emerge dalla potenziale violazione della libertà religiosa che si verificherebbe qualora fosse richiesto ai musulmani di abbandonare pratiche religiose che di fatto non si pongono in contrasto con i principi fondamentali dell’ordinamento giuridico. I moderni ordinamenti giuridici si trovano di fronte alla sfida di identificare modalità per conciliare le rivendicazioni identitarie delle comunità islamiche con la tutela dei diritti individuali. In assenza di garanzie specifiche per le minoranze religiose, questo studio si dedica all'analisi della giurisprudenza relativa al diritto di famiglia da parte di alcuni tribunali europei. L'obiettivo è quello di individuare strumenti giuridici efficaci che valorizzino l'identità religiosa minoritaria della comunità islamica, nel rispetto dei principi fondamentali dell’ordinamento, al fine di favorire un equilibrio tra l'identità religiosa collettiva e la protezione dei diritti individuali in un'Europa profondamente multiculturale.

SUMMARY: 1 - Religious minorities between cultural identity and religious freedom: preliminary remarks - 2. Legal Pluralism and Religious Pluralism: Protection tools for religious minorities - 3. Muslims of Europe - 4.- The Interaction Between Sharia and the Legal System of the State: Techniques of Reasonable Accommodation and Islamic Family Law - 5. The protection of the Islamic minority beyond religious freedom: concluding remarks.

La riforma del diritto di famiglia e delle Family courts nella Repubblica di Cipro

ABSTRACT: This essay addresses the 2023 amendments to Article 111 of the 1960 Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, as well as family law reforms in the light of the religious or belief minority rights protection, promotion, and implementation. In doing so, the article relies on the findings of the Atlas of Religious or Belief minority Rights research project. The aim is to highlight how the legal system of Cyprus is slowly detaching itself from the millet logic inherited from the Ottoman past and it is further aligning with European and international standards on the protection of minority rights in different policy areas, including family law and marriage. However, religious affiliation and religious legal systems still bear significance on some issues pertaining to family law, marriage, and dissolution of marriage.

SUMMARY: 1. Introduction - 2. Religious (and ethnic) affiliation in the “intractable” Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus - 3. Family courts: Article 111 of the Constitution and the Orthodox Church - 4. The Family Courts of the Religious Groups - 5. The Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment and the recent family law reforms - 6. Concluding remarks.

Is it possible to measure religious or belief minority rights?

ABSTRACT: Is it possible to measure how much the legal systems of the European Union countries respect and promote the rights of religious or belief minorities? Based on the findings of the Atlas of religious or belief minority rights research project (https://atlasminorityrights.eu), this article answers the question in the affirmative. The paper is divided into three parts. The first briefly describes the methodology and techniques used to measure minority rights. They are determined by the answers given to some preliminary questions that are discussed in the second part of the contribution. The last section of the article outlines the purpose and value of measuring religious or belief minority rights.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. La misurazione dei diritti delle minoranze di religione e convinzione - 3. L’oggetto e i confini della misurazione - 4. L’utilità della misurazione.