Abstract
The rights of Muslim women living in migrant communities in Europe have become a symbol of contestation between minorities and receiving states. Such tensions cast a doubt on the universality of human rights. To mediate between competing visions regarding human rights, this chapter looks for guidance in the drafting history of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR is based on a cross-cultural universality. Since this could lead to difficulties in reaching a common understanding of human rights, the drafters of the UDHR highlighted the importance of continuous cross-cultural dialogues to enlarge areas of common understandings. This chapter argues that European societies should not insist on the exclusive use of a secular human rights discourse to protect the rights of Muslim women in Europe. Muslim minorities have the right to reassert the universality of human rights by reevaluating and modernizing their reading of Islam. Consequently, they should be allowed to engage in a cross-cultural dialogue with the majority to debate the meaning of human rights. This requires adopting a flexible notion of secularism that recognizes the nuanced difference between “separating religion from State” and “separating religion from politics”. Muslims are entitled to base their conception of human rights on religious morality, although they cannot present their claims as the divine will of God. They must resort to public reason in promoting their claims. In addition, Muslim minorities cannot expect the State not to use its coercive power when minorities inflict harm on vulnerable members of their group.
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Notes
- 1.
The states abstaining were: Belorussia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the Soviet Union, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia.
- 2.
The UDHR accords the highest priority to the concept of human dignity, which serves as a key that helps harmonizing the various rights set forth in the Declaration. See Glendon (1997).
- 3.
Those countries are: Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen.
- 4.
Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, Proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 36/55 of 25 November 1981.
- 5.
For example, the founding instrument of the Council of Europe Every Member of the Council of Europe states in its Art. 3 that all members “must accept the principles of the rule of law and of the enjoyment by all persons within its jurisdiction of human rights and fundamental freedoms”. In relation to the European Union, the Copenhagen criteria, which define whether a country is eligible to join the European Union, requires that the candidate country “has achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities”.
- 6.
In its General Comment 22, the UN Human Rights Committee defined the right to practice one’s religion to include “not only ceremonial acts but also such customs as the observance of dietary regulations, the wearing of distinctive clothing or head coverings”. UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), CCPR General Comment No. 22: Article 18 (Freedom of Thought, Conscience or Religion), 30 July 1993, CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.4
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Boulos, S. (2019). Integrating Muslim Women Within European Societies: Muslim Human Rights Discourse and the Cross-Cultural Approach to Human Rights in Europe. In: Velasco, J., La Barbera, M. (eds) Challenging the Borders of Justice in the Age of Migrations. Studies in Global Justice, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05590-5_13
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