Humanities & social sciences research - Human rights law

Relgion and Belief, Discrimination and Equality

Dr Nazila Ghanea-Hercock, University Lecturer in Human Rights Law, probes the evolution of religious discrimination from a legal perspective.

Multi-culturalism, the 7/7 bombings, the ‘War on Terror’, laws against religious discrimination and migration from new European states have made UK headlines during this decade. But what impact have such events and developments had on discrimination on the grounds of religion and belief, and upon the means of combating it?

Investigating how attitudes and experiences of religious and non-religious groups in England and Wales have evolved since 1999 is the key focus of this study.

“In a multi-cultural Britain, belief, discrimination and equality are at the top of the political agenda.” said Dr Ghanea-Hercock. My contribution to the study will be to see how developments in human rights and equality law address these issues. This project will ask whether new legal standards are indeed tackling discrimination in the area of religion or belief in England and Wales - an area that policy makers, community activists and lawyers are watching with interest.”

The lead researcher on the project is Paul Weller, Professor of Inter-Religious Relations at the University of Derby. The project duration is three years from December 2009.