Freedom of Religion or Belief in Situations of Crisis: Tallinn, Estonia, 16-19 June 2016
The University of Tartu Faculty of Law in cooperation with the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University, organized an international conference entitled “Freedom of Religion or Belief in Situations of Crisis: Why Can’t We Get Along?” 16–19 June 2016 in Tallinn, Estonia. This interdisciplinary conference featured academics, professionals and students interested in human rights issues in the current migration crisis.
The conference also featured a session for students to introduce their work, receive feedback from international scholars, and test their ideas in a less formal academic environment.
The following subthemes were addressed at the conference:
- Freedom of Religion or Belief of Refugees and Migrants
- Freedom of Religion or Belief in the Conflict Zone
- Hate Speech and Migration
- Religious Symbols in Public Space
- Accommodation of Diversity
- Secular State as a Gate and Peace Keeper? States’ role in the situations of crisis. (Authors have also been welcomed to address interrelated issues such as combating terrorism and extremism.)
- Education as an Antidote against Religious Hatred?
- Interreligious Dialogue – a Solution in Times of Crisis?
The aim of the conference and its future publication was to tackle these issues in a multidisciplinary manner. The theme itself is interdisciplinary and allowed contributions from scholars from multiple backgrounds, including law, history, religion studies and political science, with encouragement of a combination of theory and practice.
The programme included academic panels, roundtables focused on current issues and plenary sessions featuring some 50 participants, including the following speakers:
- Prof. Cole W. Durham, Jr. – International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University
- Prof. Dr. Silvio Ferrari – University of Milano and Catholic University of Leuven
- Prof. Dr. Sophie van Bijsterveld – Dutch Senate, Radboud University Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies
- Prof. Dr. Jeroen Temperman – Erasmus University Rotterdam
- Dr. Kishan Manocha – OSCE/ODIHR Senior Adviser on Freedom of Religion and Belief
Principal organizers of the conferencer were Dr. Merilin Kiviorg (Senior Research Fellow in Public International Law) at the University of Tartu, Faculty of Law and Prof. Elizabeth Clark (Associate Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University).