More Than a Feeling

Elizaveta Gaufman is Assistant Professor of Russian Discourse and Politics at the University of Groningen, Netherlands

On the morning of May 8, 2018, anti-corruption activist Maria Motuznaya’s doorbell rang in Barnaul, Russia. Several police officers came in, searched her apartment, and confiscated her laptop. Among the images that she saved and posted on her Vkontakte social network page, there were several racist and antireligious memes that faulted Russian Orthodox priests for being businessmen and implied that the Church is one of two main challenges that Russia faces (bad roads was the other). Motuznaya faced accusations based on the infamous “extremist” article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code, as well as charges of “insulting religious feelings” from article 148. Even though the outcry about her case led to a partial decriminalization of article 282, which now limits charges to only those who post offensive content more than once a year, it is still important to take a closer look at the political reasoning behind the prosecution of affronted spirituality. (more…)

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Religious Freedom and Security as Mutually Reinforcing Objectives: Reflections on the New OSCE/ODIHR Policy Guidance

A Conversation, organized by Dmytro Vovk,
Director of the Centre for the Rule of Law and Religion Studies, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and co-editor of Talk About: Law and Religion.

On September 19, 2019 the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) released its Freedom of Religion or Belief Policy Guidance. Based on the OSCE comprehensive concept of security, the policy guidance provides guiding principles and a number of recommendations to address a number of notable issues at the intersection of freedom of religion or belief and security in the OSCE region. Its primary audience is policymakers concerned with security and with religion, but religious communities, civil society organizations, and media will also find the analysis and practical guidance useful. (more…)

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Freedom of Religion or Belief and Security – Some Reflections

Jeroen Temperman is Professor of International Law and Religion at Erasmus University Rotterdam

Together, recent domestic “laws on extremism,” counter-terrorism efforts, seemingly perpetual “states of emergency,” and miscellaneous “national security” measures send an unequivocally powerful message: Rights and freedoms are all well and good, but if unchecked, such liberties may undermine another important public good—security. As a result, freedom is increasingly and categorically pitched against security; security is also pitched against freedom. Such is the securitization zeitgeist. Security demands sacrifices—sacrifices in the area of what used to be fundamental freedoms we took for granted. (more…)

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