This seminar is now available as MP3:

In recent years European Court of Human Rights, Venice Commission for Democracy through Law and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have put increased emphasis on the notion of religious pluralism and redefined the boundaries of “necessity in a democratic society”. Furthermore, the European Union expanded the catalogue of its shared values by including in the Article 2 of the Treaty of Lisbon values of pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, equality and respect for human rights of persons belonging to minorities. The Treaty also requires the European Union’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights, thus embracing the interpretation of those values developed in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights.  This presentation focuses on the recent legal changes and tendencies in the European legal sphere in the area of religious diversity and pluralism and provides a critical overview of how these common democratic principles are understood in practice of European countries. 

 

Dorota Anna Gozdecka (LL.M. University of Krakow, LLD. University of Helsinki) is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki.  Her research is conducted at the Centre of Excellence in Foundations of European Law and Polity, where she is a Deputy Director of a new research network project Post-Lisbon Integration: The Quest for a New European Identity.  Her doctoral research consisted of an overview of tensions between religion and democracy in European countries. Her post-doctoral research focuses on wider multicultural questions as the influence of multi-cultural and multi-religious society on human rights and understanding of equality.

 

To view the flyer for this event please see: Religiously Plural Europe in Theory and Practice