Prof. Eugenia Relaño Pastor
Religious Freedom Awards 2018, for Professor Eugenia Relaño Pastor, from the Office of the Ombudsman and currently a researcher at the Max Planck Institute.
Eugenia Relaño Pastor has a PhD in Law from the University of Granada, a degree in Political Science and Sociology and a qualified professor of Ecclesiastical Law at the Complutense University of Madrid. On leave from the Complutense University, she currently works as an Advisory Technician in the Area of Migration and Equal Treatment of the Ombudsman and professor in the Master’s Degree in Advanced Studies on Islam in the Contemporary European Society (EMUI-UCM). Fullbright Fellow at the Salzburg Seminary and visiting professor at numerous institutions such as the University of Ottawa, Canada (1998), University of California, Berkeley, USA. (1999), International Institute of Human Rights in Oslo, Norway (2000), Institute of Comparative and European Law at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom (2001, 2002), Harvard University School of Law, USA ( 2001), Robbins Collection at the University of California, Berkeley, USA (2004), Max Planck Institute of Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany (2014).
She has been a professor at the University of Granada, the Complutense University and has taught courses at the University of Almeria and the Autonomous University of Madrid. Member of the Advisory Group of Experts on freedom of religion and convictions of the ODIHR-OSCE for the period (2005-2012). She is currently the Spanish representative in the Legal Working Group (GDP) of the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions (Council of Europe). His current work is carried out in the Area of Migration and Equal Treatment in the Ombudsman with the specialization of complaints related to non-discrimination and equality, protection of minorities (LGBT, Rome, Muslim minorities), hate crimes, Islamophobia , gender equality and gender violence.
Lines of Research
Her main lines of research are religious freedom, religious minorities, cultural diversity, equality and non-discrimination, multiculturalism and immigration.
Recent publications
2016: “Patronizing Religion at Workplace: The European Anti-Discrimination Law at Risk”, in Belavusau, U. and Henrard, K. (eds.) EU Anti-Discrimination Law Beyond Gender: Achievements, Flaws and Prospects, Oxford University Press. 2015: “Is the ban on the full Islamic Veil in a Democratic Society Required by Civil Society?” Legal Debates, (RIS) http://www.rightsinternationalspain.org.
2014: “The‘ Inclusive State Neutrality ’Normative Paradigm” in Foblets, M-C, Alidadi, K., Yanasmayan, Z. and Nielsen, J., Belief, Law and Politics. What Future for a Secular Europe ?, Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 201-211.
2013: “Participation of Muslim Minorities in the Spanish Mainstream Society”, in K. Henrad (ed.) The Interrelation between the Right to Identity of Minorities and Their Socio-Economic Participation, London: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, pp. 261-286.
2012: «Religion and Secular Values in Spain: a Long Path to a Real Religious Pluralism». in Cumper, P. and Lewis, T. (eds.), Religion, Rights and Secular Society. European Perspectives, Nottingham: Edward Elgar, pp. 102-126.
2011: «Reasonable Accommodation of Cultural Diversity in the US», in Third ENAR Equal @ work Meeting Report: Reasonable Accommodation of Cultural Diversity in the Workplace, Brussels: European Network Against Racism, pp. 11-15
2010. «Educational Pluralism and Freedom of Religion: Recent Decisions of the European Court of Human Rights», British Journal of Religious Education, 32 (1), pp. 19-29.
2009. «Individual (human) rights and religious pluralism: conflicts and proposals» in Religion and Human Rights in the public space, Giza Eskubideak Human Rights, pp. 211-247.
2008. «Educational pluralism and religious freedom in the European Court of Human Rights: Folger and Zengin», Multiculturalism and Minority Rights, Journal of the Institute of Legal Sciences of Puebla, pp. 227-246.
2007. «The fears of the European Court of Human Rights on the Islamic veil: Leyla Sahin v. Turkey, Annuaire Droit et Religion, 2, pp. 27-42.