THE TANDEM PROJECT
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UNITED NATIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS,
FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF
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SAUDI ARABIA
GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES & SECTORS
REPORT TO COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL
FORMS
OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN (CEDAW)
- 40TH SESSION
Link
to the Saudi Arabia
report to the CEDAW Committee treaty-body 40TH Session:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/cedaws40.htm
Reply by: The Tandem Project Country &
Community Database
http://www.tandemproject.com/databases/forms/card.htm
Country
& Community Database replies are under relevant Articles of the 1981 UN
Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination
Based on Religion or Belief. Replies are for United Nations Universal Periodic
Reviews, Treaty-Bodies and Special Procedures reports.
THE 1981 U.N. DECLARATION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL
FORMS OF INTOLERANCE AND OF DISCRIMINATION
BASED ON RELIGION OR BELIEF
Adopted by the General Assembly of the
United Nations
25 November, 1981
(Resolution: 36/55)
ARTICLE 1
PARAGRAPH: 1. 2:
No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair
his freedom of have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.
PARAGRAPH: 1. 3:
Freedom to manifest one’s religion or belief may be
subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to
protect the public safety, order, morals, or the fundamental rights and
freedoms of others.
1.
Country: SAUDI ARABIA: Community: Government Ministries & Sectors including the
National Society for Human Rights: Reply: In the
combined initial and second periodic reports of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
(CEDAW/C/SAU/2) to the 40th Session of the treaty-body Committee for
the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women,
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia describes a fundamental geographical
responsibility:
- “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
is the cradle of the Islamic message and the direction to which all Muslims through the world turn
in prayer, due to the fact that God created His Sacred House (the Kaaba)
at Makkah al-Mukarrama and the Mosque of the Prophet at Madinah
al-Munawwara;
- The country has adopted the Holy Koran, revealed by the Lord
of all creation, and the Sunna of
His Messenger, Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of God be upon him),
as its constitution.
- The country is the destination of millions
of Muslims from around the world for the performance of the
annual pilgrimage, the minor pilgrimage and visitation to the holy sites,
requiring the State to exert great efforts to serve them and to take a
range of comprehensive health, security, social, consciousness raising,
educational and economic measures to guarantee their safety."
2. Sacred sites in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
are the direction for the daily prayer of 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide known
as the Islamic Ummah, from the most populous and remote places on earth. This
is illustrated in the attached Word Documents, Muslim Girls
in Minneapolis Join American Girl Scouts, and in the article Somali Women Make Minneapolis Their Business,
by Kris Berggren, 23
December 2007: “About three years ago in response to employee
requests, the Mall of America in Suburban Bloomington created a meditation room
that employees may use for prayer. Even at
‘hijab-friendly’ stores, occasional flaps occur over how Muslim employees
should balance their religious duties with their job requirements.” These
stories illustrate as well the opportunities and the struggles to adapt to new
customs while maintaining religious traditional practices in a country where
the constitution is based not on the Holy Koran or Shari’ah Islamic law, but on
Western traditions of democracy as understood by the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.
3.
The General Comment 22 on Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights states: The “concept of morals derives from many social, philosophical and
religious traditions; consequently, limitations on the freedom to manifest a
religion or belief for the purpose of protecting morals must be based on
principles not deriving from a single tradition.” The moral concepts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
follow the Koran and Sunna under the umbrella structure of the Basic Law of Governance. There are different Sunni schools
in Saudi Arabia;
Maliki, Shafei, Hanafi and Hanbali. But Saudi Arabia adopts only the moral
concepts of the Hanbali
School for the state’s jurisprudence. This seems to discourage dialogue and
dissent within and outside Saudi
Arabia on concepts of
morality called for by General Comment 22 on Article 18 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
4.
The differences between Islamic Shari’ah law and Western traditions of
democracy was apparent in the United Nations Human Rights Council recently when
Portugal, speaking on behalf of the European Union (EU) failed to reach
consensus with Pakistan representing the Organization of Islamic States (OIC),
on resolution A/HRC/6/L.15/Rev.1, to extend the mandate of the Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief for three years. This was the only
resolution out of thirteen passed by the Human Rights Council that day that
went to a vote in spite of 40 changes to attempt consensus. The resolution
passed with a vote of 29 for, 0 against, and 18 countries abstaining. The
spokesman for Saudi Arabia,
in explaining why they endorsed the position of Pakistan to abstain, said the
resolution “asks for the respect of religions and civilizations but does not
take into account rules certain countries have for the tenants of Shari’ah to
preserve the stability and structure of a country.”
5. A United Nations endorsed Alliance of
Civilizations Forum was held for two days in Madrid in January 2008. In greeting the
Forum UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said: “Never in our lifetime has there
been a more desperate need for constructive and committed
dialogue, among individuals, among communities, among cultures,
among and between nations.” Mr. Ban’s High Representative for the Alliance,
former President of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio, has been invited to address the
United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC Decision 6/106) at the “High-level
Segment of its seventh session in March on the outgoing activities within the
framework of the Alliance and particularly on the outcome of its first annual
forum and the level of progress achieved regarding the implementation plan for
the period 2007-2009.”
6.
It is important for future high level dialogue in the Alliance that Mr. Sampaio be aware the United
Nations Human Rights Council failed to achieve consensus on the mandate of the
Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. For purposes of comparison
and dialogue the attached Word Document, The Cairo Declaration on
Human Rights in Islam has 25 articles on education, environment,
poverty, work, equality before the law etc., is laudable and seem open to
dialogue. Article 24 “all rights and freedoms
stipulated in this Declaration are subject to the Islamic Shari’ah” and Article 25
“The Islamic Shari’ah is the only source of
reference for the explanation or clarification of any of the articles of this
Declaration” are not negotiable or open to change.
Human Rights in Islam do not grant the right to leave a religion or belief. This provision was the
basis for Saudi Arabia and several other Islamic countries decisions on the UN
Human Rights Council to abstain on the mandate on the Special Rapporteur on
Freedom of Religion or Belief that states unequivocally; No
one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to
adopt a religion or belief of his choice. Without the right to have or to
adopt a religion or belief of one’s choice there is no democracy as understood
by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
CONCLUSION
7. The Alliance and inter-cultural, inter-religious
communities worldwide must acknowledge the serious tone of the United Nations
Secretary General when he says “never has there been a more desperate need for constructive and
committed dialogue.” As another
source says, this is a warning, “unless we establish a genuine dialogue
within and among all kinds of belief, ranging from religious fundamentalism to
secular dogmatism, the conflicts of the future may be even more deadly.”
Constructive inter-cultural, inter-religious dialogue of the
serious kind described by the Secretary General requires us to be friendly,
good natured and respectful of each other while committed to discussing deeply-held core ideas and
beliefs; the value of Shari’ah Islamic law, the value of International Human
Rights Standards on Freedom of Religion or Belief, divisive issues such as
apostasy, defamation, freedom of the press, etc., and the need for religions or
beliefs to live in peace with each other.
___________________________________________________________________________________
The Tandem Project: a
non-profit, non-governmental organization established in 1986 to build
understanding and respect for diversity of religion or belief, and prevent
discrimination in matters relating to freedom of religion or belief. The Tandem
Project has sponsored multiple conferences, curricula, reference materials and
programs on Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights – Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion - and the 1981 United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All
Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. The Tandem
Project initiative was launched in 1986 as the result of a co-founder
representing the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) at a
1984 United Nations Geneva Seminar, Encouragement of
Understanding, Tolerance and Respect in Matters
Relating to Freedom of Religion or Belief, called by the UN
Secretariat on ways to implement the 1981 UN Declaration. In 1986, The Tandem
Project organized the first NGO International Conference on the 1981 UN
Declaration.
The
1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights First Preamble: “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable
rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice
and peace in the world. This principle
suggests all States recalling their history, culture and constitution, provide
equal protection by law for theistic, non-theistic and
atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief. This
is international law under the United Nations International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights. International Human Rights Standards on Freedom of
Religion or Belief are essential for long term solutions
to conflicts based on religion or belief.
The Tandem Project Executive Director:
Michael M. Roan, mroan@tandemproject.com.
Documents Attached:
SAUDI ARABIA CEDAW REPORT - 40TH SESSION - NGO REPLY
THE CAIRO DECLARATION ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN ISLAM
ISSUE - SOMALI WOMEN MAKE MINNEAPOLIS THEIR BUSINESS
MUSLIM GIRLS IN MINNEAPOLIS JOIN AMERICAN GIRL SCOUTS
The Tandem Project is a UN NGO in Special
Consultative Status with the
Economic and Social Council of the United Nations