Contenuti per la categoria: Libertà di coscienza e di religione, individuale e collettiva

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. Brevi cenni sul contesto normativo internazionale - 3. La valenza della prassi internazionale: in particolare, il ruolo degli organismi internazionali indipendenti - 4. La giurisprudenza della Corte europea dei diritti dell’uomo e la rilevanza delle convinzioni religiose dei genitori - 5. Segue: il rispetto del diritto all’educazione dei minori - 6. Il limitato rilievo dei principi generali a tutela dei minori e la necessità di riconoscere loro un locus standi in sede processuale.

Children's right to religious freedom: between international norms and practice

ABSTRACT: Religious freedom is considered a cornerstone of democratic societies, a vital element that contributes to forming the identity of believers and, with reference to minors, the course of their education and upbringing, accompanying them to adulthood. In international law studies, the right of minors to religious freedom, understood as the set of international obligations imposed on States, in both the negative and positive senses inherent in its achievement, has been little explored. The paper aims to identify systematic elements to help reconstruct the “minimum” content of a child’s right to religious freedom, pursuing two main lines of investigation: one relating to the exercise of freedom of worship in the various social contexts in which minors grow up; the other inherent in the educational project that leads them to adulthood. Recognition of the child of a locus standi in the independent court of law compared to that of the family members in charge of his care will help to realize the subjectivity of the child even in such a sensitive subject matter as religious freedom.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. Vivere al tempo dei “divieti”, con i temperamenti della Corte costituzionale - 3. Edifici, luoghi, spazi - 4. Un’architettura “scomposta”: dal minareto di cristallo all’area per la moschea destinata a parcheggio.

Secularism and Right to the Building of Worship

ABSTRACT: Article 19 of the Italian constitution guarantees the right to worship as one of the three subjective public rights, together with the right to profess one’s own creed and propagate it, through which religious freedom is manifested. However, people belonging to certain religions face obstacles in having places where they can perform their rituals. Particularly, the request to build mosques on Italian soil encounters many denials, especially of a legislative nature. The essay analyzes, also through the reference to concrete cases, the problems in the field and proposes to reflect on the concept of space where people can develop their personality and fulfill the mandatory duties of political, economic and social solidarity.

SOMMARIO: 1. Le restrizioni introdotte dalla normativa ‘emergenziale’ - 2. La legittimità delle restrizioni sotto il profilo del bilanciamento tra interessi - 3. (segue) e del rispetto del principio pattizio - 4. I protocolli per la ripresa delle funzioni religiose come strumenti di ‘responsabile’ collaborazione - 5. I profili di criticità - 6. Conclusioni.

The Limits to the Practice of Worship during the Health Emergency and the ‘Responsible’ Collaboration with the Religious Denominations

ABSTRACT: The severe pandemic which has affected the Italian country (as well as the rest of the world) led the Government to introduce restrictive measures whose aim was to hinder the diffusion of the virus. Such measures imposed a general prohibition to any movements and gatherings, thus affecting the exercise of many fundamental rights and, among these, the freedom of worship, considered in its interpersonal dimension. In particular, as far as this right was concerned, the legitimacy of its restriction had to be assessed not only in the light of its balance with other competing interests (namely, public health), but even of the constitutional principle which compels the State to regulate its relationships with the religious denominations on the base of agreements signed whith their representatives (art. 7, c. 2, and 8, c. 3, Cost.). For these reasons, some scholars criticized the unilateral nature of the restrictive measures, whilst they welcomed favorably the signing of the ‘health protocols’ adopted in order to restart the celebration of public worship ceremonies. This paper aims at assessing whether a unilateral limitation of the freedom of worship might be considered legitimate. In addition, it is going to investigate the juridical nature of the abovementioned health protocols, in order to highlight any critical profiles.

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. Il caso Casamitjana Costa v. The League Against Cruel Sports - 3. Il veganismo nella giurisprudenza italiana - 4. Pari dignità delle coscienze … - 5. (segue) e specificità del fenomeno confessionale - 6. Definire le convinzioni personali tra libertà del singolo e necessità di accertamento - 7. Spunti conclusivi.

Beyond religious pluralism. Veganism as an expression of freedom of conscience

ABSTRACT: A recent judgement of the Employment Tribunals and a following one of the Tribunal of Bologna recognized veganism as a belief worth of protection. The two judges went beyond the bounds of the religious sphere, exploring the horizon of cultural pluralism, which the Italian Republic, as a secular state, should guarantee. The sentences therefore represent a starting point for addressing the complex issue of the relationship between law and conscience, which recently acquired major importance. As a matter of fact, according to an authoritative doctrine, there is a tendency in all Western legal systems to leave moral or ethical matters to individual self-determination, in accordance with the personalist and pluralist principle. This contribution will then start from the examination of the sentences and then it will deal with some of the main problems concerning freedom of conscience and its protection.

SOMMARIO: 1. La figura del “reato culturalmente motivato” e l’idea di multiculturalismo - 2. L’eterogeneità della categoria dei reati culturalmente motivati. Il principio di offensività come canone ermeneutico e veicolo di un approccio interdisciplinare - 3. Il “porto” del kirpan: l’approccio ‘fonografico’ del giudice di legittimità nell’ordinamento italiano - 4. La reasonable accomodation nell’interpretazione pluralista della Corte Suprema Canadese attraverso il caso Multani. Spunti per una comparazione - 5. L’„accomodation” alla prova del paradigma sicuritario. La vicenda del riconoscimento della personalità giuridica della comunità sikh in Italia.

Rethinking the antinomy of the cultural offence. Hypotheses from a legal-philosophical perspective

ABSTRACT: The essay is intends to problematize the epistemological perspective which, in the Italian system, upholds the judicial interpretation related to the cases that can be ascribed to the category of the so-called cultural offence. In this regard, t he article is focused on the case-law concerning the religious practices of the sikh believer and on the legal recognition affair of Sikhism in Italy, identifying this empirical field as a privileged observatory. The topic of the analysis, through the Canadian approach, makes it possible to assess the canons of the prevailing hermeneutics in matter and to envisage hypotheses toward a rethinking of the theoretical assumptions underlying the criminal law enforcement, especially considering non offensive conduct of a religious nature.

SOMMARIO: 1. Ironia 2.0: la vignetta in tempo di pandemia - 2. Satira vs libertà religiosa? - 3. Gioia e umorismo virtù anche cristiane - 4. Nota conclusiva.

Smiling and laughing during pandemic time

ABSTRACT: Are smiling and laughing ethically acceptable in times of Covid-Crisis? The paper tries to suggest an answer by taking into account a selection of comic strips posted on the WEB during the pandemic. The issue is addressed through two major points of view: the balance between the freedom of religion and the freedom of expression and the (possible) expressions of humor in the religious - particularly in the Catholic - tradition.

SOMMARIO: 1. Cibo e religione (e mercato) - 2. L’evoluzione storica del rapporto tra cibo e religione - 3. Elementi utili per una definizione giuridica di macellazione rituale - 4. La questione dello stordimento - 5. La sentenza della Grande Chambre della Corte di giustizia del 29 maggio 2018 (causa C-426/16): la posizione dell’Avvocato Generale Nils Wahl - 6. La sentenza della Grande Chambre della Corte di giustizia del 26 febbraio 2019 (causa C-497/17) - 7. Alcune considerazioni (non) conclusive.

Multicultural societies and protection of food identity: some reflections on ritual slaughter.

ABSTRACT: The intensification of migratory flows and the demographic increase of the population of the Islamic religion in Europe now make it unavoidable to consolidate that process of cultural integration between different ethnic, linguistic and religious components, which had already begun a few decades ago in Western countries and aimed at defining of a new model of open and pluralist society. This process calls into question, in various areas - including that of food protection - the values ​​of dignity, freedom and equality on which European democracies are founded, imposing the search for new balances between potentially conflicting interests. This contribution aims to investigate the compatibility profiles between respect for the food identity of religious minorities, the protection of human health and food safety and the prohibition of causing unnecessary suffering to animals, to highlight whether the principle of neutrality accepted by the current EU legislation is indeed the most suitable for promoting the fundamental values ​​of European society.

SUMMARY: 1. Introduction - 2. Alevi Population in Turkey and in Europe - 3. What is Alevism? Who are the Alevis? - 4. Discrimination against Alevis and Alevi Massacres from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic - 5. Alevi Migration in Turkey and to Europe - 6. Alevi Organizations in Europe: Cultural, Social, and Historical Perspectives - 7. Discourses of “Other” vs “Equal” on Alevis - 8. Alevi Associations in Europe: Legal Perspectives - 9. Alevism in the Turkish Legal Setting - 10. Alevism at the European Court of Human Rights - 11. Concluding Remarks on Legal Issues - 12. Concluding Remarks on Social and Cultural Issues.

ABSTRACT: Using interdisciplinary lenses, this article examines the cultural, social, and juridical status of the Alevis in Turkey and Western Europe. The ongoing social exclusion and discrimination against Alevis in Turkey make their everyday lives challenging. In Europe, Alevis organized themselves in associations, forming vibrant transnational communities. They struggled for recognition of their cultural-religious rights, and in some European countries, they are given special status. As we will illustrate, their recognition in Europe significantly effected in their case in Turkey but failed to emancipate them fully and posed further issues to tackle with and for the Alevis in Turkey. Gedik and Birkalan-Gedik present sociological, historical, and political contexts to understand the current realities of Alevis in Turkey and Europe, mostly based on their ethnographic studies. Madera examines five cases between 2007-2016 which were presented by the Alevis to the European Court. We conclude that currently, Turkey does not try to suffice the European requirements, namely, the implementation of policies aimed at guaranteeing adequate protection of the collective dimension of religious freedom in a way consistent with European directives.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. Riservatezza psichica, profilazione e neurotecnologie - 3. Il valore della riservatezza psichica - 4. Privacy e libertà di pensiero.

Psychoprivacy: Some Remarks on the Relation between Protection of Personal Data and Freedom of Thought

ABSTRACT: This essay maintains that the same normative reasons that lead to ascribe to individuals a fundamental right to privacy imply a fortiori a certain degree of legal protection against the unwanted detection and disclosure of their ideas, beliefs, opinions, preferences, tastes, feelings, moods, dispositions, memories, aspirations, action plans and other conscious or unconscious products of their mind. This aspect of the right to privacy referred to the mental (cognitive, doxastic, intentional, mnemonic and emotional) dimension of individuals will be called psychoprivacy and examined in its relationship with freedom of thought. It will be concluded that the psychoprivacy of individuals conflicts with freedom of thought only if the latter is considered from the perspective of the speaking subject, that is, the one who claims the freedom to express their thoughts without any legal restrictions whatsoever. If, on the other hand, freedom of thought is centered on the thinking subject, and understood as the right to cultivate one's thoughts and purposes regardless of any expression or translation in practice, then there is no conflict with psychoprivacy, but rather harmony.

SUMMARY: 1. Key terms and definitions - 2. Two ways to look at culturally motivated crimes: the case of the kirpan in the Italian and in the Canadian jurisprudence - 3. Moving forward: the Italian Court of Cassation n. 29613/2018 - 3.1. Cultural tests: a comparative insight - 3.2. The cultural test in the Italian judgment of 2018 - 4. Final remarks.

ABSTRACT: The aim of this article is to analyze culturally motivated crimes with a comparative focus and a case law approach. First of all, a set of definitions is given to have a common and shared understanding of the topic at stake. What is culture and what do we mean by culturally motivated crimes? Secondly, a comparative case-law study helps to focus the possible different solutions given to the cultural factor in criminal law. In fact, some legal systems -such as the Canadian one - appear to be more willing than others to make concrete accommodations of cultural differences. Lastly, the latest Italian Court of Cassation suggests a possible direction to be taken to better treat culturally motivated crimes in today’s multicultural society. What does it mean for criminal law to be culturally sensitive? How can courts take into consideration cultural factors through a proper legal method? These are the main questions on which criminal doctrine has focused its attention trying to reshape a criminal model which can be responsive to those different cultural values, needs and interests.