Fundamental rights non-negotiable

On November 29 a referendum initiated by the conservative Swiss People's Party (SVP) will be held in Switzerland on whether to ban minarets. The daily Le Temps looks critically at the project: "For once the lawyers are practically unanimous: the new article in the constitution is incompatible with the religious freedom guaranteed by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. ... The [Swiss] constitution obliges the authorities to heed international law. And if the Swiss courts fail to pass judgement, the judges in Strasbourg [at the European Court of Human Rights] will do the job for them. The European court has the task of reminding European states that fundamental rights are not negotiable."

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