E/CN.4/2006/5 page 15 47. At the regional level, the European Court of Human Rights and, previously, the European Commission on Human Rights appear to be more inclined to allow States to limit individuals’ positive freedom of religion or belief. The Court case Şahin v. Turkey concerned the refusal of admission to lectures and examinations at Istanbul University for students whose heads were covered. Both the Court Chamber and the recent Grand Chamber judgements held the notion of secularism to be consistent with the values underpinning the European Convention on Human Rights. With regard to article 9 of ECHR, “the Court considered that, when examining the question of the Islamic headscarf in the Turkish context, there had to be borne in mind the impact which wearing such a symbol, which was presented or perceived as a compulsory religious duty, may have on those who chose not to wear it”.12 In her dissenting opinion, however, Judge Tulkens disagreed with the manner in which the principles of secularism and equality were applied by the majority of the Grand Chamber. She underlined that not mere worries, but only “indisputable facts and reasons whose legitimacy is beyond doubt” were capable of justifying interference with a right guaranteed by the Convention. 48. In the case Dahlab v. Switzerland, the application of a teacher in a primary school who had been prohibited from wearing a headscarf in the performance of her professional duties was dismissed by the European Court of Human Rights at the admissibility stage. The Court held that a teacher, wearing a “powerful external symbol” such as the headscarf might have some kind of proselytizing effect on young children, who were in this case aged between 4 and 8 years. Thus, the Court concurred with the view of the Swiss Federal Court that the prohibition of wearing a headscarf in the context of the applicant’s activities as a teacher was “justified by the potential interference with the religious beliefs of her pupils, other pupils at the school and the pupils’ parents, and by the breach of the principle of denominational neutrality in schools”.13 49. The protection of the beliefs of others and of public order was also stressed in the case Refah Partisi (the Welfare Party) and Others v. Turkey, where the Grand Chamber of the European Court stated that “measures taken in universities to prevent certain fundamentalist religious movements from exerting pressure on students who do not practise that religion or on those who belong to another religion may be justified under article 9 [paragraph] 2 of the Convention”.14 50. The European Commission on Human Rights also dealt with two applications, Karaduman v. Turkey (No. 16278/90) and Bulut v. Turkey (No. 18783/91), concerning the university’s refusal to issue a diploma because the photographs that the applicants had submitted for their identity documents portrayed them with their heads covered. In its decisions of 3 May 1993, the Commission did not regard the rejection to be an interference with the applicants’ freedom of religion or belief as secular universities may regulate manifestation of religious rites and symbols with the aim of ensuring harmonious coexistence between students of various faiths and thus protecting public order and the beliefs of others. D. Development of a set of general criteria to balance competing human rights 51. In general, contentious situations should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, e.g. by weighing the right of a teacher to manifest his or her religion against the need to protect pupils