International Protection of Religious Minorities Through the Epochs of International Law

Abstract After tentatively defining the notion of ‘minority’ in international law, this paper adopts a legal-historical approach in order to examine the treaty and perhaps customary rules that have protected religious minorities in the epochs of international law, starting with modern times. It is argued that there has been a kind of rise and fall in the international protection of religious minorities, which can be read as a paradigm of the epochs of international law, or rather of the different interests that have shaped each such epoch. As far as today is concerned, it is submitted that, although there is no international norm specifically protecting religious minorities, some other international norms can be interpreted as indirectly safeguarding them.