Indicator history

A general protection against discrimination is established by article 3 of the 1948 Constitution, which recognises equal dignity and equality under the law without distinctions also on ground of religion (belief is not mentioned per se). “The 1948 constitution mentions religion within the general equality clause contained in article 3. It establishes also (article 8, section 1) that “All religious beliefs are equally free before the law”, and (article 19) that “ [all] shall be entitled to profess their religious beliefs freely in any form, individually or in association with others, to promote them, and to celebrate their rites in public or in private, provided that they are not offensive to public morality”. The practical enforcement of the general principle of religious freedom has been somewhat difficult because of its coexistence with other provisions deeply marked by the strong role of the Catholic Church. With regard to the religious confessions different from the Catholic one, the constitution establishes (article 8) that they can “organise themselves according to their own charters, provided that these are not in conflict with the Italian legal system” and that their “relations with the State are regulated by the law on the basis of agreements with their representative bodies”, thus leaving open to possibility of more favourable treatment for the religious associations that have signed those agreements”. There are “agreements - transposed in statutes approved by the parliament - with the representations of some religious confessions (these are the Adventists, the Waldensian movement, the Jewish Communities, the Assemblies of God, the Baptist movement, and the Lutheran Church). These agreements regulate the effects for the Italian state of the internal acts of the confessions, while solving several problems specific to each of these, like for instance holidays. Within the scope of application of Directive 2000/78, it is therefore clear that the employer enjoys a wider discretion to refuse taking into consideration the specific needs related to a religion or belief when the employee is a believer of a “religion without agreement”. Even more relevant problems exist out of the employment field, in any case where there a degree of judicial and administrative discretion, as for instance proved by the outright and explicit denial of some local authorities of the administrative authorisations required to start any kind of place of worship for Muslims. Because of the piecemeal approach followed with the agreements, the legal protection of freedom of religion in Italy is currently felt as being still unsatisfactory, primarily concerning the position of those confessions that were not able to sign the agreements or to have them transposed in an act of parliament. (besides Islam, this is the case for instance of Jehovah’s Witnesses), the situation of which is thus still regulated by the antiquated 1929 act on “tolerated cults” . The lack of an agreement applicable to Islamic believers is commonly explained with a mix of both political reasons and objective difficulties linked to the absence of a unified representation of Islamic communities. (p. 14-16, Report on measures to combat discrimination).

“Since 2010 the protection of the Catholic religion seems to be the new obsession. With the aim of targeting Islamic groups, the Municipality of Trenzano (BS) passed an ordinance that made it compulsory the use Italian in public meetings which are discussing cultural, political or religious aims. The Regional Administrative Court and the Court of Justice of Brescia have revoked such ordinance for its discriminatory character” (p.30 Enar Shadow Report 2009-2010).

Source:

Report on measures to combat discrimination, Directives 2000/43/EC and 2000/78/EC. Country Report 2009, Italy, Alessandro Simoni

Enar Shadow Report 2009-2010