Religion and Human Rights in Greece

We bring together a scholar and a practitioner engaged in the study and implementation of religion-related human rights in Greece. Yannis Ktistakis, Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Effie Fokas, researcher on ECtHR religion case law, will engage in a discussion about issues such as religious education in state schools, the legal status of religious minorities and exemption from sharia law (in the case of Muslims of Thrace), and of the critical role played by the ECtHR in such areas.

Meet our speakers and chair

Effie Fokas is Senior Research Fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) and a Research Associate of the London School of Economics Hellenic Observatory. Her research explores religion at the intersection with politics, law, and human rights, and in relation to nationalism and European identity. Her publications include Religious America, Secular Europe?, co-authored with Peter Berger and Grace Davie; Islam in Europe: Diversity, Identity and Influence, co-edited with Aziz Al-Azmeh; and The European Court of Human Rights and Minority Religions, co-edited with James T. Richardson.

Yannis Ktistakis is a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights. He has served as Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Democritus University of Thrace (2007-2021) and previously as Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations, Bosphorus University, Istanbul, Turkey (2012-2015). He serves as a Lawyer at the Court of Cassation and at the Council of State. Yannis holds a PhD in Law by the University of Athens.

Kevin Featherstone is Eleftherios Venizelos Professor in Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor in European Politics in the European Institute at LSE, where he is also Director of the Hellenic Observatory.

More about this event

The Hellenic Observatory (@HO_LSE) is internationally recognised as one of the premier research centres on contemporary Greece and Cyprus. It engages in a range of activities, including developing and supporting academic and policy-related research; organisation of conferences, seminars and workshops; academic exchange through visiting fellowships and internships; as well as teaching at the graduate level through LSE's European Institute.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEGreece

Featured image (used in source code with watermark added): Photo by Arthur Yeti on Unsplash.