A top EU official and former Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief has challenged the 2021 COVID restrictions on public worship at the European Court of Human Rights.
Bringing the potentially precedent-setting religious freedom case to the court in Strasbourg (ECHR) on July 28, Dr. Ján Figeľ stated that worship bans are “illiberal and non-democratic”.
Figeľ, who is co-represented by human rights organisation ADF International and local Slovak lawyer Martin Timcsak, asked whether blanket bans on public worship were compatible with the international human right to the communal exercise of religious freedom.
“Religious freedom as a basic human right deserves the highest level of protection. Prohibiting people from worship and communal religious exercise is profoundly illiberal and illegitimate. Worship bans were unfair and disproportionate.
“Our arguments submitted to the court demonstrate clearly that blanket bans are violations of religious freedom under international human rights law,” stated Dr Figeľ.
Figeľ’s case is thought to be the first where Europe’s top human rights court rules on the blanket bans on public worship during the Covid pandemic. The decision would set a precedent for 46 European States with 676 million citizens.
“In times of crisis, fundamental freedoms need to be protected, rather than weakened,” said Figeľ, whose home country, the Slovak Republic, in 2021 prolonged its COVID restrictions, banning religious services. Dr. Ján Figeľ and ADF International lead lawyer Dr. Adina Portaru argued that the restrictions violated both national and international law.
“The international legal framework is very clear in its protection of this right as it benefits everyone – people of faith as well as people of no faith. Fundamental freedoms apply to all, and in times of crisis they must be protected rather than weakened,” explains Dr Portaru.
In the submitted arguments Figeľ’s legal team highlighted that religious freedom specifically includes the right to communal worship under the law. The Slovak government previously had argued that spirituality can be lived out individually.
The Slovak government also put forward the option of digital worship as a justification for the blanket ban. Recent court rulings throughout Europe, however, arrive at different conclusions. Scotland’s highest civil court ruled on the same issue, holding that digital options “are best viewed as an alternative to worship, rather than worship itself”.
The case rests on the fact that the Slovak blanket ban was neither proportional, nor appropriate or necessary.
“Nobody should be prohibited from peacefully exercising his or her convictions, and it was evident that religious worship could be conducted safely during the pandemic,”said Dr. Ján Figeľ.
“Blanket bans ignore the central role that religion plays in the lives of believers. For people of faith, communal worship, spiritual nourishment, can be as important as bodily nourishment. That’s why international and European law and our very own Constitution holds religious freedom so dearly. I expect that the ECtHR will consider this holistically with a keen eye for the role of human rights in a democratic society.”
Dr Figeľ served as European Commissioner in various positions between 2004 and 2009. In 2016 he was appointed as Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief outside the EU, a position he held until 2019.
“As Special Envoy, it was evident to me that the EU cannot credibly advance religious freedom throughout the world if its Member States fail to uphold fundamental freedoms at home,” he added.
ADF International has been involved worldwide in cases regarding worship bans and violations of religious freedom in the context of Covid restrictions. In Uganda, the organisation supported a coalition of Christians and Muslims challenging a discriminatory prohibition of religious gatherings. Further, ADF International advocated to open churches for worship in Ireland, Scotland, and Switzerland.
(Dr. Ján Figeľ and Dr. Adina Portaru outside the ECHR in Strasbourg | ADF International)
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