Restrictions on the right of civil servants to freedom of outlook and religion in Ukraine: EU experience and ECtHR practice.

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the legal problems of limiting the right of civil servants to freedom of outlook and religion in Ukraine, taking into account the experience of the EU and the practice of the ECtHR. During the preparation of the study and its conclusions, such methods of scientific research as dialectical, formal-legal, systemic, hermeneutic, comparative-legal, empirical, etc. were applied. These methods allowed the authors to determine the importance and complexity of limiting the right of civil servants to freedom of opinion and religion, and its place in ECtHR decisions. The article analyzes international legal norms and standards, theoretical and legal approaches to understanding the religious neutrality of civil servants, analyzes the types of its requirements and their legislative regulation, and models of state-church relations in a certain EU state. It has been established that in relation to the researched law, it is necessary to proceed from international obligations in the field of ensuring the right to freedom of thought, speech and religion, in particular the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms from 1950, and the relevant case law of the ECtHR. The directions for improving the legislation in the context of the European integration of Ukraine, as well as taking into account the application of ECtHR decisions in limiting the right of civil servants to freedom of outlook and religion, are defined.

Keywords

• religious neutrality
• freedom of conscience and religion,
• practice of the European Court of Human Rights,
• public service,
• Ukraine,