Varuh ДЌlovekovih pravic

RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS AND DISCRIMINATION OF PEOPLE ON THE GROUNDS OF THEIR RELIGION OR BELIEF

Meanwhile ISCOMET, in collaboration with the Human Rights Ombudsman and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Human Rights, prepared a conference on religious freedoms and discrimination on the basis of faith or belief. As well as recognised domestic experts, participants included experts from Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Northern Ireland, Poland and Sweden. The purpose of the conference was to draw attention to the open questions that believers, non-believers and religious communities are facing in Slovenia.

The ban on discrimination on the basis of faith or belief is one of the explicitly stated bases for the prohibition of discrimination in all international instruments. Very often discrimination against individuals because of faith or belief is overlooked, because the prevailing society pushes belief into the private sphere of the individual. In this way the state attempts to evade its responsibility for guaranteeing equal opportunities for all differently-believing and non-believing citizens of Slovenia. The main message of the conference was thus that the state is obliged to adopt a normative regulation that will ensure the equality of all citizens of the Republic of Slovenia regardless of their faith and belief and will at the same time guarantee all religious communities active in Slovenia the right to perform their religious ceremonies.