Religious identity, State law and minorities' rights 

Wed 12th Jui 23
11 A.M - 1 P.M
Déméter 015

Abstract:

This panel aims to contribute to academic discussions on majoritarian identity and minority rights in the Muslim world. The social, national and, to a certain extent, legal identity of the countries in question is often substantially shaped or influenced by religion. This has led to repercussions against minorities that do not subscribe or belong to the majoritarian identity. Those It includes not only those religious minorities that have been living in these countries since centuries, but also sexual minorities, freethinkers and secularists, who have increased or manifested their presence in those countries in recent decades. Both historical religious minorities as well sexual and non-religious groups share a common experience of reduction in some of their civil rights as citizens of their country. While some of them decide or are forced to migrate in order to have their rights fully recognized, those who remain still face various form of discriminations. 

Against this background, this panel intends to address the following questions:  

• What kind of bottom-up mobilization have those minorities been carrying on to ask for the respect of their rights and to make states grant them an effective legal protection? 

• To what extent have states used the national religious identity to justify violations of human rights? 

• Are vulnerable minorities able to fully exert their citizenship rights on par with the majority?  This panel will draw from a diversity of Muslim-majority jurisdictions to answer these questions, including Indonesia, Lebanon and Tunisia. 

Convenor:
Tommaso Virgili, WZB Berlin Social Science Center