The Freedom to Import Religious Goods: An Analysis of Customs Regulations on Religious Items and Their Interference with Freedom of Religion or Belief: Part Two

Brandon Reece Taylorian is an associate lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire (UK). The following is Part Two of a two-part post.

Introduction

Part One of this two-part post gave an overview of the range of state policies and practices that restrict importations of religious goods and provided an assessment of when customs regulations inappropriately limit FoRB. Part Two, below, focuses on two 2020 European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) cases involving restrictions on the importation of Jehovah’s Witness literature in Armenia and Azerbaijan, respectively. These cases show how states have applied their import regulations in practice, to the detriment of religious communities. Both cases also illustrate how the ECtHR determines a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in the specific area of religious import restrictions.

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Religious Freedom and Peacemaking

Knox Thames is a senior fellow at Pepperdine University and a senior visiting expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace. The following post comprises his remarks during a panel on “Understanding Religious Freedom: Why Does It Matter?” at the ICLRS 31st Annual International Law and Religion Symposium, 7 October 2024. Portions of his remarks were drawn from his book Ending Persecution: Charting the Global Path to Religious Freedom (Notre Dame Press 2024).

Introduction

There can be no durable peace without religious freedom. There may be the cold peace of a cessation of hostilities. However, lasting peace will not come until people can live together, recognizing the rights of their neighbors to pursue truth as their conscience leads without fear of discrimination or violence.

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FoRB Podcast: The Russian World Narrative and the Russian Aggression in Ukraine

In Episode 3 of The FoRB Podcast, Dmytro Vovk and Merilin Kiviorg invite Catherine Wanner and Thomas Bremer to discuss the Russian world (Russky mir)—a narrative utilized by the Russian government and the Russian Orthodox Church to justify Russia’s aggressive war in Ukraine and to portray Russia as an “anti-Western civilization.” They touch on the ideological origins and content of the Russia world, the Russian Church’s involvement in the war, political and legal responses to the Russky mir narrative by Russia’s neighboring states (Ukraine and Estonia), and debates over these issue in the United States and Europe. 

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