State of the art

The complex interplay between religion and migration has been a persistent issue throughout history. This connection traces back to the modern era, when religious wars led to the persecution of various religious minorities, compelling them to migrate. In response, international regulations emerged to protect these minorities, initially designed to preserve international peace and promote trade. However, these norms also inadvertently supported the rights of migrating religious minorities from a modern human rights perspective. For example, the 1555 Augsburg Treaty both mandated subjects to follow their sovereign's religion and allowed religious minorities the right to relocate to states where the sovereign shared their faith, imposing an international duty on those states to welcome them.

In today's globalized world, religion has resurfaced as a key identifier, resulting in renewed issues at the intersection of migration and religion. The academic focus has been either on religious freedom or on the broader human rights of migrants, lacking an intersectional perspective. While migration issues have received considerable attention in international law literature, freedom of religion, including its internal and external forums, has been mainly explored through the lens of international norms in the UN human rights system and regional human rights frameworks. These studies often overlook contributions from other disciplines that could enrich international law-based solutions. Thus, a new approach is needed, one that bridges different aspects of the migration-religion relationship and engages with various disciplinary perspectives.

The significance of examining the migration-religion nexus becomes evident in the context of international refugee law, particularly concerning religious persecution. However, this aspect has not been extensively explored in legal literature, with notable exceptions like Musalo’s 2004 work in the International Journal of Refugee Law. Recent studies, often limited to assessing credibility in religion-based refugee claims, lack a comprehensive approach.

Moreover, the migration-religion dynamic raises issues beyond persecution, including non-discrimination and social integration of migrants of all faiths. Balancing state sovereignty in religious regulation with individual rights, particularly in Europe and the EU, continues to challenge policymakers, especially considering the migrant backgrounds of affected individuals. The COVID-19 pandemic has further complicated this balance, exemplified by migrants' religious objections to vaccination. Additionally, the intersection of migration and religion plays a role in violent extremism and religiously motivated terrorism, often stemming from the discrimination and lack of social integration migrants face due to their religious beliefs, leading to radicalization and new forms of racism, such as Islamophobia.

These considerations underscore the need for innovative solutions that address the interplay between states and the multicultural dynamics within societies experiencing increasing migratory flows. Achieving this requires a comprehensive and systematic study of the migration-religion relationship within an international law framework, while also drawing on insights from other relevant disciplines.

Detailed description of the project

GENERAL AIMS AND ORIGINALITY

MiReIL project, framed in the Piano nazionale di ripresa e resilienza (PNRR), aims to contribute to the priorità trasversali outlined in the PNRR (referenced on page 33) and enhance specific interest areas such as formazione in ambito di asilo (mentioned on page 96) and inclusione e coesione: missione 5 (found on page 198).

The project's primary goal is to identify and tackle the multifaceted issues arising from the interplay between religion and migration. Its focus is on developing innovative solutions that are beneficial for both the progression of knowledge (extending beyond international law through interdisciplinary input) and the tangible societal impact in increasingly diverse communities.

The project's uniqueness lies in its comprehensive examination of the complex relationship between religion and migration, and its methodological approach. This approach justifies the selection of research teams, their unique contributions, the resources allocated based on each team's capacity, and the extensive range of activities planned. This multidimensional study and the incorporation of various academic disciplines underscore the project's originality and potential for significant academic and social contributions.

METHODOLOGY

The project will primarily be framed within the scope of legal studies, with a specific focus on international law. Recognizing that the international law perspective alone is insufficient for a comprehensive and nuanced examination of the issues at the intersection of migration and religion, the project will incorporate insights from multiple disciplines. This interdisciplinary approach will include perspectives from domestic law, economics, and political science to enrich the research.

Key contributors to this project will be international law scholars from four renowned academic institutions, known for their expertise in this domain. These scholars will collaborate with experts from other academic fields and practitioners throughout the project's duration, emphasizing the necessity of a multidisciplinary approach to address the complexity of religion and migration as social phenomena. Intersectionality will serve as a common theoretical framework across different research units and experts. This approach is particularly suited to reveal the varied impacts of applicable norms on migrants practicing minority religions.

A unique "temporal approach" will guide the entire research project, focusing on the typical journey of migrants. This approach includes dual perspectives: the country of origin and the country of destination, providing a comprehensive view of the migration experience. Additionally, the project will employ a legal-historical methodology to specifically investigate international norms that protect religious minorities.

It is important to clarify the terminology used throughout the project. The term "migrants" will be used broadly, encompassing both asylum seekers and those migrating for other reasons. This inclusive definition is employed to ensure that all individuals who are entitled to similar treatment under international law are considered within the scope of the research, regardless of their specific migration motivations.

SPECIFIC AIMS AND EXPECTED OUTCOMES

Specific goals are structured around several working packages (WPs), which will be explored and developed throughout the project's duration. These WPs are designed to investigate the interplay between migration and religion through a variety of scientific lenses, encompassing disciplines such as International Law (IUS/14), Constitutional Law (IUS/09), Administrative Law (IUS/11), Political Science (SPS/04), Criminology (SEC-S/01), and Security Studies (SEC-S/03), along with the Ethics of Legal Professions (IUS/13).

(WP1): Religious freedom in migrants’ countries of origin (Sapienza Research Unit).

Pursuant to the said “temporal” approach, it seems worthwhile to dedicate the first research line to the examination of the protection of religious freedom in the countries of origin. The focus will be on the international protection of religious freedom in Africa and Asia, as most migrants flee African or Asian States on religious grounds and also because most forced migrants worldwide are actually hosted in the Global South. Accordingly, religious freedom under Art. 8 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and Art. 30 of the Arab Charter on Human Rights (ACHR) will be examined, as well as the case law and practice of the relevant monitoring bodies. With a view to identifying the shortcomings of the regional protection of the freedom of religion, the ACHPR and the ACHR will be compared. These will be, in turn, put in relation with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (thereinafter: Covenant), which enshrines the right to religious freedom under Art. 18. Whereas the Covenant draws from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is inspired by universalism, the ACHPR and the ACHR are informed by regionalism and cultural relativism, which may certainly encroach upon religious freedom, as the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam tellingly shows. In addition, the role that the Covenant itself plays in the protection of migrants’ religious freedom in their country of origin will be explored. The reason is twofold. First, in the event that the ACHPR and the ACHR provide for a weaker protection of religious freedom than that granted under the Covenant, States parties to both the former and the latter are not allowed to derogate from the Covenant as a result of their participation in those regional treaties. In this connection, the issue of normative conflicts between these instruments will be examined in light of the ongoing debate regarding regionalism and universalism of human rights, as well as the so-called “fragmentation” of international law. Second, it should be borne in mind that the Covenant may be the only international human rights treaty relevant to religious freedom in those States that are not bound by regional treaties concerning human rights protection in general. For instance, no such a regional treaty exists that is comprehensively applicable to Asia. To this end and to advance innovative solutions on the ground, attention will be given to the pertinent practice of the Covenant’s monitoring body, i.e. the Human Rights Committee, and other relevant United Nations (UN) bodies, including the Human Rights Council and the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance.

(WP2) Religion as a ground of persecution (LUISS Research Unit).

When migrants leave their countries because they are systematically persecuted, religion knowingly is a cause of such persecution. Thus, religion would often turn into a ground for countries of destination to recognise the refugee status to the benefit of migrants. Against this background, this project also aims at examining the relationship between religion and refuge (with a few comments on the more general relationship with international protection), and especially: (i) religion as a ground included in the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees to accede to the refugee status (the so-called nexus clause); and (ii) freedom of religion as a target of persecution in the context of the refugee status determination. To this end, the relevant international and internal practice (administrative decisions and related case law) will be assessed, also in connection with the UNHCR interpretative activity. Given the importance of the concept of “religion” in this context, a dialogue with experts of other disciplines will be set up. Such an interdisciplinary exchange will be essential to understand how to better determine whether a certain phenomenon falls within the scope of religion or not, drawing a line beyond which the Geneva Convention does not offer any protection. The case law will also be of fundamental importance in order to examine the criteria of assessment of the credibility of the applicant, especially in the hypothesis of the so-called refugees sur place and, particularly within this category, of those who have, by their conduct, given rise to a well-founded fear of persecution (so-called bootstrap refugees). The credibility of the applicant’s story is crucial when the application is associated with religious persecution, particularly in cases where the initial reason for leaving a country is completely outside the framework of the Geneva Convention. For reasons such as religion or political opinion, credibility is a game that is played almost exclusively on the territory of the conduct of the applicant and the knowledge that the same has of the religion to which they claim to adhere. Yet, credibility is not the only area deserving further investigation. Procedures and reception of asylum seekers, as well as intersection with other asylum grounds, may also have a significant impact Appropriate solutions, also to improve the evaluation of and procedures applied to religious-based asylum claims, will be developed.

(WP3) Persecution of religious minorities and mass migration (Trieste Research Unit).

Religious persecution usually affects groups of individuals, thus forcing them to massively move to other countries, where as a matter of fact they settle as new religious minorities. Thus, the protection of religious minorities may become an issue and, in the current globalised world, it is a problem that international law shall deal with. Therefore, finding and assessing the relevant international norms seem a matter of primary importance. To this end, a legal-historical investigation is useful. As is known, in the modern age (1648-1815) and in the first half of the contemporary age (1815-1945) many religious minorities were persecuted. In order to maintain international peace, some international norms protecting the main religious minorities (minorities that in any case professed Christian faiths) soon appeared. In a nutshell, at least until the Second World War, many treaty norms dealing with the protection of religious minorities existed. In light of the copious amount of such treaty norms – pursuant to the theory considering treaties as bases contributing to the creation of international customs – one could also wonder whether an international customary norm safeguarding religious minorities existed too. At a later time, during the Cold War, international law seemed not interested anymore in religious minorities. Today, as in the past, many minority groups are again oppressed only or above all because of their religion and are thus forced to migrate: e.g., Rohingya in Myanmar; Yazidi in ISIL occupied territories; Christians in African States where Islam is the main religion or vice versa; Shiites in Sunnis States or vice versa; etc. As a matter of fact, in the current globalised world, religion has come back as a crucial identification element for non-native social communities, namely minorities made up of migrants. As a result, the problem concerning the protection of new religious minorities has arisen again. In light of the foregoing, and with the contribution of relevant experts in this field, the project will provide theoretically informed definitions of notions like “minority” and “religious minority” and investigate their status in contemporary international law. In this context, the relevant States’ practice, if assessed in light of massive migration occurred in last decades, will probably help to demonstrate a clear tendency allowing to equalise nowadays non-native minorities to historical minorities. This will be a major premise in order to search for international norms protecting religious minorities. It will be then submitted the hypothesis that in contemporary international law some other norms – both treaties and customs – can be interpreted as indirectly safeguarding religious minorities. By searching for, assessing and providing innovative reading to such international norms, the project will inform practical solutions for more equality-based integration of religious and migrant minorities in countries of destination.

(WP4) Religious freedom in migrants’ countries of destination: general frame (Sapienza Research Unit).

Beside the general problem concerning the protection of new religious minorities, other religion-based problems may affect migrants as individuals once they arrive in their countries of destination. That is why this study will investigate to what extent religious freedom is guaranteed to the benefit of migrants by virtue of international instruments also in countries of destination. In this regard, taking into account for our own purposes European countries as the destination of significant migratory flows, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the EU Charter for Fundamental Freedoms (CFR) come especially into consideration, as well as the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). In relation to the countries of destination too, the Covenant will be analysed, along with the practice of the Human Rights Committee. Indeed, individuals increasingly tend to bring their cases before the Human Rights Committee following a dismissal by the ECtHR, whose excessive workload is well-known. The standards so analysed will set the ground for the entire research and will be constantly monitored through the activity of the new Research Centre to be set up (see below).

(WP5) Religious freedom in migrants’ countries of destination: non-discrimination and social inclusion in Europe (Bologna Research Unit).

Across an increasing multicultural Europe, the relationship between migrations, religion, non-discrimination and social integration has been a constant matter of debate. The implications for human rights as protected by the ECHR and for anti-discrimination law, as adopted within the EU, did not take long to emerge. In the attempt to strike a balance between States’ sovereignty to regulate religious matters in light of their specific socio-cultural traditions and individual rights, either in terms of freedom of religion or protection against discrimination, these European frameworks still experience difficulties to provide solutions focusing on the migratory background of concerned people. Drawing also on other WPs, in light of the interpretation of the ECHR given by the ECtHR so far, and the relevant legislation of the EU in this field, this part of the project will investigate the relationship between migration and religion from three complementary perspectives. Freedom of religion as enjoyed by (old and new) persons with a migratory background in Europe will be the point of departure. In this respect, the research aims at exploring the restrictions imposed to migrants, including asylum seekers at arrival and in reception centres, in the enjoyment of their freedom of religion, and the impact that such restrictions have in regulating their participation in host societies. By emphasising the specific effect on religious and migratory-based groups of these restrictions, our investigation will set the grounds for advancing alternative approaches on how host European States’ public space could be shaped to integrate migrants’ religions while ensuring the basic conditions of the "vivre ensemble". Then, attention will be placed on two further specific dimensions that, either collectively or individually, may facilitate the full enjoyment of the freedom of religion. From a macro-perspective, this research’s WP will explore whether formal relationships should be established between host States and religious and migrant-based minority groups as a positive obligation under the ECHR, and what possible implications (if any) may be derived under EU law. From a micro-perspective, the intersection of freedom of religion with the migratory background of newly established people in Europe will be analysed through the lens of “intersectional discrimination”. In this respect, the potential guarantees to be derived from Arts 14 ECHR and 21 CFR, as well as the (current and proposed) EU’s anti-discrimination legislation will be explored. Specific aspects of host States’ public space such as reception facilities, education and access to health services like (compulsory) vaccination, which have recently been at the centre of public debate following the mass migration from Ukraine, will be tested. For the sake of completeness, given the social implications of this specific line of research, the European Social Charter might also come into play. Consequently, a better understanding of intersectionality in human rights and anti-discrimination law will be an extra layer as well as an extra outcome of the research. The results will be fundamental for drafting the legislative proposal(s) that the project aims to elaborate (see below).

(WP6): Administrative organisation.

During the entire life of the project, the PI will carry out the necessary administrative tasks to ensure the smooth development of the project. In particular, in cooperation with the heads of research units, he will ensure: the setting up of the Research Centre (see below); the selection of new staff and of the external monitoring body (Advisory Board – see below); the coordination between research units, through regular meetings (at least one every six months); the achievement of MS as planned (see below); the supervision of the highest qualitative standards of all dissemination activities; the publication of results (see below); the management of the research budget, in cooperation with the administrative staff of the host University. 

POSSIBLE APPLICATION POTENTIALITIES AND SCIENTIFIC/TECHNOLOGICAL/SOCIAL/ECONOMIC IMPACT

The project aims at highlighting and analysing the most “magmatic” aspects stemming from the connection between migration and religion in an international law perspective, without neglecting domestic law as well as economic and political contributions thanks to the involvement of selected researchers from other disciplines.

In general, the project will have a positive impact on the advancement of scientific-academic knowledge in the frame of the Italian Piano nazionale di ripresa e resilienza (PNRR) as it will try to assess problems requiring urgent and innovative solutions. It will be possible through the assessment of the relevant international case law as well as through the examination of how the reception of pertinent international norms take place in the domestic orders of European countries, with a specific focus on Italy. 

The project will lead to specific scholarly outcomes feeding the scientific and social advancement of the Italian society according to the targets set up in the Piano nazionale di ripresa e resilienza (PNRR). As a way of illustration, the outcomes achieved will have the potential to influence the determination of the refugee status: the general framework it aims to provide should allow States Parties to the Geneva Convention to improve recognition procedures where the application is based on religious persecution.

A more efficient procedure should be able to isolate cases deserving protection, on the one hand, and separate them from those abusing the application for refugee status, on the other. The results that the project aims to achieve will usefully represent also a reference point for a political, social and institutional debate. In this respect, besides the identification of the most problematic legal issues, the project will also offer the bases for advanced structural solutions to social issues. In a nutshell, the outcomes of the research will be a starting point for elaborating proposals that can be translated into domestic (local, regional and national) legislation. The main idea concerns the elaboration of, at least, a legislative proposal on the regulation of the most urgent and problematic aspects related to religious freedom of migrants (and of religious minorities made up of migrants) that will emerge from the research. This may include strengthening policies of non-discrimination on religious grounds and, thus, of social integration.

Overall, the multi-dimensional and theoretically approach based on international law with interdisciplinary insights here proposed will be fundamental for each research unit to elaborate legal and policy recommendations, in the relevant specific field of competence, that are tailored for European societies and above all for the Italian society. Not only these recommendations will be hopefully useful for Italy to meet its European and international obligations. These recommendations will also include what alternative interpretations, if any, of the international and European frameworks and of the EU’s relevant legislation and competences can be possibly achieved to shape an Italian society that could genuinely take into account the needs of (old and new) religious and migratory-based minority groups. That being said, the research units will organise training activities concerning the interaction between religion and migration to the benefit of both legal practitioners (lawyers, judges, consultants), who have an increasing interest in these topics, and those who work in close contact with migrants, who show an increasing need to better understand and handle the latter’s religious background. The training programme will be rooted on activities to be held in presence (unless external circumstances require otherwise) and will offer course credits for those belonging to professional associations. Where possible and relevant, these activities will include also experts of other disciplines to tackle better most urgent needs.

In light of the above, the findings of the research will have an impact on the work of legal practitioners (lawyers, judges, officials of the competent agencies), asylum adjudicators, social operators, associations, NGOs, and those who are increasingly confronted with new situations within a regulatory framework that is stratified because of its multi-level nature. Such findings can provide, above all, useful indications on the reception of international law concerning migrations and religion in the domestic legal systems and on the case law of domestic and international bodies, especially those aimed at protecting human rights.

The project has also the potential to improve the training of undergraduate and postgraduate students of the universities involved. In fact, where possible, the scientific and social activities underlying the project could involve also students, whose active participation will be encouraged and will enrich their educational path. Moreover, dissemination and academic exchange will be nurtured by the organisation of three academic workshops: two events will take place during the first year of activity, at the Roma La Sapienza and LUISS universities; one other event will be organised during the second year of activity at the Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna.

At the end of the project, a general conference with the participation of external experts, including international partners of the research units, and other academics will be held at the Trieste University. The publication of an edited collection of essays – in English and possibly with the support of a well-known publisher – will be planned to close the project and launch new research patterns. All academic products will be available open access and will duly acknowledge the MUR and EU support.