If this book were to have a subtitle, it might well be ‘from Sumeria to Strasbourg’. This is not to suggest that the story of the inter-relationship of religion and international law has reached its fulfilment in the European Convention on Human Rights. The scope of this book has been limited to the principal instruments applicable in the European theatre and it has not looked at the development of similar norms and practice under them in other regional conventions, such as the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights (1969) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (1981). Other international instruments which bear upon the protection of the religious freedoms of particular categories of people, such as the UN Conventions on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1966), on the Rights of the Child (1989) and on Migrant Workers (1991), and the ILO Conventions Nos. 111 (1958) and 169 (1989), have also fallen beyond the bounds of this study. This is not because they are unimportant. They all take their place within the complex web of protective norms and mechanisms. However, the instruments that have been examined form the central pillar around which other instruments have developed and against which they are to be assessed; the ambiguities and uncertainties surrounding their interpretation and application pervade the entire subject.

The purpose of this book has been to examine the manner in which religious freedom has been recognized in international law and the interpretation that is currently placed upon it.