RT Article
T1 Criteria and constraints: the Human Rights Committee’s test on limiting the freedom of religion or belief
JF Religion and human rights
VO 15
IS 1/2
SP 20
OP 38
A1 Gunatillake, Gehan
LA English
PB Brill, Nijhoff
YR 2020
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1698808747
AB The Human Rights Committee—the treaty body established under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights—performs a vital function in supervising the Covenant’s implementation. This article presents an analytical account of the Committee’s approach to determining the permissibility of limitations on the freedom of religion or belief under the Covenant. It finds that the Committee has set out certain primary legal criteria when determining the permissibility of a limitation. The Committee has then articulated certain additional normative constraints that apply to states’ authority to limit rights—such as the requirement that the limitation be compatible with the principle of non-discrimination. Based on an analysis of the Committee’s general comments and jurisprudence, the author argues that the Committee has offered a path towards imposing on states a heavier burden to justify limitations on the freedom of religion or belief.
K1 Human Rights Committee
K1 ICCPR
K1 freedom of religion or belief
K1 Human Rights
K1 limitation clauses
DO 10.1163/18710328-BJA10002