Chapter 7 Key facts checklists

Freedom of religion and expression

Freedom of religion and expression are essential to democratic society.
They are qualified rights as individual rights may impinge on the rights of others.
Under Article 9 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) the right to hold or not hold a belief is absolute; the right to manifest a belief is qualified.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) will first decide if there has been manifestation of belief. It has been restrictive in interpretation, especially in the workplace and education.
Article 10 has been interpreted as including views that shock and disturb; however, it has excluded some forms of hate speech.
State restriction of expression must be justified. This will depend on issues such as the type of expression, source of expression, and who/what the expression is concerned with.