¹ Leyla Şahin v Turkey, Application 44774/98 (2005).Google Scholar

² Dahlab v Switzerland, Application 42393/98, admissibility decision (2001).Google Scholar

³ See Cha'are Shalom Ve Tsedek v France, Application 27417/95 (2000).Google Scholar

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⁵ Wingrove v UK, Application 17419/90 (1996)Google Scholar; Otto-Preminger v Austria, Application 13470/87 (1994)Google Scholar

⁶ Kokkinakis v Greece, Application 14307/88 (1993)Google Scholar; Larissis v Greece, Applications 23372/94–26377/94–26378/94 (1998).Google Scholar

⁷ Evans, (n 4) 141.Google Scholar

⁸ She further complained that the Swiss courts had erred in accepting that the measure had a sufficient basis in law and in considering that there was a threat to public safety and to the protection of public order. She observed that the fact that she wore an Islamic headscarf had gone unnoticed for four years and did not appear to have caused any obvious disturbance within the school.

⁹ Kopftuch-Urteil [Headscarf Decision] (24 09 2003), BVerfGE 108, 282Google Scholar; NJW 56 (2003), 3111.Google ScholarSee von Campenhausen, AF ‘The German Headscarf Debate’ (2004) 2 Brigham Young University Law Review 665–99Google Scholar; Schiek, D ‘Just a Piece of Cloth? German Courts and Employees with headscarves’ (2004) 33(1) Industrial Law Journal 68–73.Google Scholar

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¹¹ IT Plesner ‘The European Court on Human Rights between fundamentalist and liberal secularism’ (Strasbourg Conference), available at <http://www.strasbourgconference.org/papers/ Plesner%27s%20Strasbourg%20paper%20(revised).pdf> (page 7).

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¹³ For a recent House of Lords' decision on a local school uniform policy, the right to wear a headscarf, a Muslim pupil's refusal to comply with school uniform policy and the meaning of ‘constructive’ expulsion, R (on the application of Begum (Shabina)) v Denbigh High School Governors [2006] 2 WLR 719 (22 Mar 2006).Google Scholar

¹⁴ Loi n° 2004–228 du 15 mars 2004 encadrant, en application du principe de laïcité, le port de signes ou de tenues manifestant une appartenance religieuse dans les écoles, collèges et lycées publics (JO n° 65 du 17 mars 2004 page 5190)—Law n° 2004–228 (15 03 2004)Google Scholar prohibiting children in public schools from wearing clothing and insignia that ‘conspicuously manifest a religious affiliation’ (Official Journal n° 65, 17 03 2004, page 5190)Google Scholar

¹⁵ Raihon Hudoyberganova v Uzbekistan, Communication 931/2000 (2005).Google Scholar The Committee considered both freedom of manifestation under Article 18(1) and freedom from coercion under Article 18(2). The Committee considered that the freedom to manifest one's religion encompasses the right to wear clothes or attire in public which is in conformity with the individual's faith or religion. Furthermore, it considered that to prevent a person from wearing religious clothing in public or private may constitute a violation of Article 18(2). The Committee noted that the State party did not invoke any specific ground for which the restriction imposed on the author would in its view be necessary in the meaning of Article 18(3). In the particular circumstances of the present case, and without either prejudging the right of a State party to limit expressions of religion and belief in the context of Article 18 and duly taking into account the specifics of the context, or prejudging the right of academic institutions to adopt specific regulations relating to their own functioning, the Committee was led to conclude, in the absence of any justification provided by the State party, that there had been a violation of Article 18(2).

¹⁶ Leyla Şahin v Turkey, Application 44774/98 (2005), para 115.Google Scholar

¹⁷ [2006] 2 WLR 719 (22 03 2006).Google Scholar It concerned Miss Begum, a pupil at a secondary school where the majority of pupils were Muslims. The school uniform allowed the shalwar kameeze with the headscarf. However, the applicant argued that this was not sufficient and that her Muslim beliefs required her to wear the jilbab, which is a more covering form of dress. This was not accepted by the school, and she was told not to come back to school until she stopped wearing the jilbab.

¹⁸ Scolnicov, A ‘A dedicated follower of (religious) fashion?’ (2005) 64 CLJ 527–9, 528–9.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Especially paras 58 and 94.

²⁰ Lord Nicholls and Baroness Hale disagreed and argued that there was an interference with her freedom of manifestation.

²¹ Paras 58–94 (per Lord Bingham).

²² For example, see Mandella v Dowell Lee [1983] 2 AC 548.Google Scholar In a case involving a turban-wearing Sikh child with unshorn hair, a uniform requirement of short hair and caps for boys, and unlawful indirect discrimination, the headmaster's objection to the turban on the ground that he sought to run a Christian school, accepting of all religions and races is particularly interesting. He argued that the Christian character of the school would not be accurately reflected by the inclusion of the non-Christian turban as part of the uniform, that the turban was an outward manifestation of a non-Christian faith and that it amounted to a challenge to that faith.

²³ G Robbers ‘Religion in Public Schools’ (Strasbourg Conference), available at: <http://www. strasbourgconference.org/papers/Religion%20in%20Public%20Schools.pdf> (page 2).

²⁴ G Haarscher ‘Muslim Minorities and Democracy: Battle of Memories v. Genuine Integration’ (Strasbourg Conference), available at:<http://www.strasbourgconference.org/papers/ Haarscher.pdf> (page 10).

²⁵ See Kjeldsen, Busk Madsen and Pedersen v Denmark, Applications 5095/71–5920/72–5926/72 (1976)Google Scholar; Martins Casimiro and Cerveira Ferreira v Luxemburg, Application 44888/98, admissibility decision (1999)Google Scholar; Jimenez Alonso and Jimenez Merino v Spain, Application 51188/99 (2000).Google Scholar Whereas State indoctrination that does not respect parental religious and philosophical convictions in education and teaching is prohibited, parents cannot object to a neutral curriculum, and their convictions must not conflict with the fundamental right of the child to education. Accordingly the threshold is so high for parents that it does not mean much anymore.

²⁶ Çiftçi v Turkey, Application 71860/01, admissibility decision (2004).Google Scholar

²⁷ Öktem, N ‘Religion in Turkey’ (2002) 2 Brigham Young University Law Review 371–403, 397.Google Scholar Niyazi Öktem points out that mandating eight years of secular education for all children was one among other measures introduced by the Government in 1997 in order to contain fundamentalism.

²⁸ See Rivers, J ‘Religious liberty and education: coping with diversity’, International Conference Human Rights and Our Responsibilities Towards Future Generations: an Inter-Religions Perspective, organized by the Future Generations Programme in collaboration with UNESCO and the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies at the Foundation for International Studies (Valletta, Malta, 6–8 05 1999).Google Scholar Julian Rivers points out that ‘there is no such thing as neutrality in matters of faith. To pretend that there is, is to deny the existence of fundamental differences and ultimately to devalue the faiths themselves. However, there can be consensus and compromise, and neutrality is to be understood in this sense’.

²⁹ Scolnicov, A ‘Children's right to freedom of religion in a multi-religious society’, paper presented at the 2001 International CESNUR Conference ‘The spiritual supermarket: religious pluralism in the 21st century’ (London, 19–22 04 2001), available at <http://www. cesnur.org/2001/london2001/scolnicov.htm> (footnotes omitted) (last visited 9 Jan 2006).+(footnotes+omitted)+(last+visited+9+Jan+2006).>Google Scholar

³⁰ Leyla Şahin v Turkey, Application 44774/98 (2005), para 116.Google Scholar

³¹ It is worth pointing out that on the issue of proportionality, the Court never really analysed the issue, whereas less restrictive alternatives would have been possible.

³² Pedain, (n 12) 539Google Scholar: notably the fact that she complies with a duty that follows from her relationship with Allah/God.

³³ ibid 540.

³⁴ Plesner, (n 11) 5–6.Google Scholar

³⁵ ibid 15.

³⁶ ibid.

³⁷ On different conceptions of laïcité in France, see Idriss, MM ‘Laïcité and the banning of the “hijab” in France’ (2005) 25 Legal Studies 260–295, 261–262.Google Scholar He distinguishes an interpretation of laïcité according to which the exercise of religion is permissible in private but where the French State will not openly support a particular religion within the public sphere, in the interests of non-discrimination, and another interpretation (and one, he argues, which seems to prevail in most governmental and educational institutions) that is far more aggressive and where the state will strive hard to maintain its religious neutrality by curtailing religious freedom, in the interests of public order.

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⁴⁰ AE Mayer ‘The Refah Case: Did Islam and Islamism Distract the ECHR from Appraising the Merits of the Case?’ (Strasbourg Conference), available at: <http://www.strasbourg confer-ence.org/papers/The%20Refah%20Case.pdf>

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⁴⁵ Hasan and Chaush v Bulgaria, Application 30985/96 (2000), paragraph 78Google Scholar; Supreme Holy Council of the Muslim community v Bulgaria, Application 39023/97 (2004), para 96.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia and others v Moldova, Application 45701/99 (2001).Google Scholar

⁴⁷ 1997 Federal Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations (Federal Law No 125–F3). See Gunn, TJ ‘Caesar's Sword: The 1997 Law of the Russian Federation on the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations’ (1998) 12 Emory International Law Review 43–99Google Scholar; Brossart, J ‘Legitimate Regulation of Religion: European Court of Human Rights Religious Freedom Doctrine and the Russian Federation Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations’ (1999) 22 Boston College International and Comparative Law Review 297–321.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Church of Scientology Moscow and others v Russia, Application 18147/02 (2004)Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Moscow branch of the Salvation Army v Russia, Application 72881/01 (2004)Google Scholar

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⁵³ Sergei Malakhovsky and Alexander Pikul v Belarus, Communication 1207/2003 (2005).Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Greco-Catholic parish Sìmbăta Bihar v Romania, Application 48107/99 (2004).Google Scholar

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⁵⁶ 97members of the Gldani congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses and four others v Georgia, Application 71156/01 (2004).Google Scholar

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⁶⁷ Refah Partisi (The Welfare Party) and others v Turkey, Applications 41340/98–41342/98–41343/98–41344/98 (2003), para 93.Google Scholar