NGOs under European Convention on Human Rights / Tymofeyeva

a religious marriage, which amounts to an observance of a religious rite, and religious teaching to both represent manifestations of religion within the meaning of Article 9 § 1 of the Convention. Nevertheless, the Court refused to recognise an infringement of Article 9 separately, finding this part of the complaint to be manifestly ill-founded. The Court reiterated that the Convention cannot be interpreted so as to impose on states an obligation to have the effects of religious marriages recognised as equal to those of civil marriages. 1078 Likewise, the right to manifest religion in teaching does not go so far as to entail an obligation on governments to allow religious education in public schools or nurseries. Another example of a judgment of the Court finding a violation of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 9 is the case of Religionsgemeinschaft der Zeugen Jehovas and Others v. Austria . 1079 The applicants in this case were a religious community, Religionsgemeinschaft der Zeugen Jehovas in Österreich, and four Austrian nationals. All belonged to a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses. They alleged that the Austrian authorities’ refusal to grant legal personality to the applicant religious organisation and, subsequently, the decision to grant it legal personality of a more limited scope vis-à-vis other religious organisations infringed their right to freedom of religion under Article 9 read alone and in conjunction with Article 14. 1080 According to Austrian law, religious bodies may obtain legal personality by registering either as a religious society or as a religious community. Registration as a society is only possible if the organisation has existed in Austria for at least 20 years or has been registered as a religious community for at least 10 years. The Court observed that under Austrian law, religious societies enjoy privileged treatment in many areas. These areas include exemption from military service and civilian service, reduced tax liability or exemption from specific taxes, the facilitation of the founding of schools, and many others. Given the nature of these privileges, the advantage obtained by religious societies is substantial. Therefore, the state’s authorities have an obligation to remain neutral in the exercise of their powers in this domain. It requires that all religious groups, which so wish, have a fair opportunity to apply for this status and the criteria established must be applied in a non-discriminatory manner. The Court noted that in the present case, the state body dismissed the request for recognition of the applicant organisation as a religious society on the ground that it had not existed as a registered religious community for a minimum of 10 years. The imposition of a waiting period before a religious association with legal personality can obtain a more consolidated status might be necessary in exceptional circumstances, such as in the case of newly established and unknown religious groups. Nonetheless, the Court found that it hardly appears justified in respect of religious groups with a long-standing, international existence, and also a long establishment in the country, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. In respect of such a religious group, the authorities should be able to verify whether it fulfils the requirements of the relevant legislation 1078 Şerife Yiğit v. Turkey [GC], no. 3976/05, § 102, 2 November 2010. 1079 Religionsgemeinschaft der Zeugen Jehovas and Others v. Austria , no. 40825/98, 31 July 2008. 1080 GÜLALP, H. and SEUFERT, G. Religion, Identity and Politics: Germany and Turkey in Interaction . Routledge, 2013, p. 122.

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