International Seminar "Religions, Conflicts and Minorities", University of Padova, 11 September 2015

The School of Economics and Political Science, the Department of Political Science, Law and International Relations and the Human Rights Centre of the University of Padova, in cooperation with "Geneva for Human Rights", promote an international seminar on "Religions, Conflicts and Minorities".

The seminar, organised in the framework of the Master's Degree Programme "Human Rights and Multi-level Governance", is hosted at the Archivio Antico, Palazzo del Bo, on September 11, 2015.

Registration is required. 

Programme:

9h30 Welcome addresses

Marco Mascia, University of Padua, Giuseppe Giordan, University of Padua

 

10h00  Religions and minorities: framing the challenges

Chair: Elena Pariotti, University of Padua

Discussants:

Willy Fautré, Human Rights Without Frontiers

Adrien-Claude Zoller, Geneva for Human Rights

11h15-11h30  Break

11h30 Case studies: Italy, Croatia, Greece, Romania, Australia

Chair: Paolo De Stefani, University of Padua

Discussants:

Giuseppe Giordan, University of Padua

Siniša Zrinščak, University of Zagreb

Stelios Perrakis, Panteion University

Costantin Preda, University of Bucharest

Sev Ozdowski, University of Western Sidney

 

12h30   Discussion

In recent years religion has steadily been associated to conflict, and less often to peace and successful human rights initiatives. Indeed, religions have attracted most attention as catalysers of extremist and destructive societal forces. As a result, the material socio-economic dimensions of the many “religious” clashes fought worldwide have been largely disregarded, to the benefit of an ideological, intra-religious narrative based on concepts like “islamophobia”, “christianophobia”, and similar. The actual violations of substantive rights of religious groups and persecutions of individuals and minorities have been concealed under the veil of a ubiquitous “clash” of religions and civilisations.

The aim of the seminar is to reconsider the complex interplay of the ideological, socio-political and normative dispositives through which religious élites and political actors have manipulated each other, by exploring the many dimensions of the topic, with an emphasis on human rights. Case studies illustrating the link between religions, religious minorities and socio-political conflicts, will also be addressed, taken from European and non-European contexts.