Reasonable accommodations for religion or belief as a challenge in contemporary European societies
| Author | Veit Bader,Katayoun Alidadi,Floris Vermeulen |
| DOI | 10.1177/1358229113502715 |
| Date | 01 June 2013 |
| Published date | 01 June 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
Editorial
Reasonable
accommodations
for religion or belief
as a challenge in
contemporary
European societies
Katayoun Alidadi, Veit Bader and Floris Vermeulen
This special issue of the International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, guest edi-
ted by Katayoun Alidadi, Veit Bader and Floris Vermeulen, focuses on the issue of rea-
sonable accommodation for religious beliefs and practices in the area of employment.
Within the frame of the EU FP7 RELIGARE project (2010–2013), a series of interviews
was conducted in six European countries (Bulgaria, Denmark, England, France, the
Netherlands and Turkey) with a wide variety of ‘key opinion makers’, including reli-
gious and secular leaders, political figures and trade unionists, to better capture how
these actors perceive the different laws, judicial decisions and practices in, amongst oth-
ers, the area of employment. Presenting insights from these interviews, embedded in the
specific national context and church–state model and using relevant legislation and case
law as necessary background, is the main focus of the six country-specific contributions.
In the introduction, Alidadi, Bader and Vermeulen place the debate on reasonable
accommodations for religion or belief in a wider philosophical context, discuss the legal
frameworks of anti-discrimination law and human rights under which employment
accommodations claims are assessed, and consider some striking aspects of the six
country-specific contributions. The six country-specific contributions discuss the situa-
tion in England (Prakash Shah), the Netherlands (Floris Vermeulen and Rabia El Mor-
abet Belhaj), Denmark (Lisbet Christoffersen and Niels Valdemar Vinding), Bulgaria
(Maya Grekova, Iva Kyurkchieva and Maya Kosseva), France (Franck Fre´gosi and
Deniz Kosulu) and Turkey (Tug
˘ba Tanyeri-Erdemir, Zana C¸ itak, Theresa Weitzhoffer
and Muharrem Erdem). In a concluding, comparative contribution, Marie-Claire Foblets
draws from the various perspectives to discuss the relevance of the issue for the EU and
the possible role of EU law in this regard.
International Journalof
Discrimination and theLaw
13(2-3) 53
ªThe Author(s) 2013
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DOI: 10.1177/1358229113502715
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