Eweida v United Kingdom

Abstract

In January 2013, the European Court of Human Rights released its decision in Eweida v United Kingdom. The Court decided on applications in four freedom of religion cases, thus juxtaposing questions of religious clothing and its accommodation with more complex rights conflicts between religious beliefs and provision of services contrary to those beliefs. The Court ended the notion that the ‘freedom to resign’ resolves the former kind of case, although arguably it may still resolve the latter. Understanding why this is so, the progressive steps the Court has taken, and the questions it has failed to answer, requires some analysis. We commence with the facts, turn to the religious clothing context, then reflect more broadly on conflicts between freedom of religion and other rights, particularly in the context of comparative jurisprudence that the Court failed to examine.

Keywords: religious freedom, European Court of Human Rights