THE TANDEM PROJECT

http://www.tandemproject.com.

UNITED NATIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS,

FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF

THE POPE AT THE U.N. - RELIGIOUS LEADER &

HEAD OF A UNITED NATIONS OBSERVER STATE

Issue: The Pope at the United Nations

For: United Nations, Governments, Religions or Beliefs, Academia, NGOs, Media, Civil Society

Review: In U.N. Address, Pope Stresses Importance of Defending Human Rights, by Ian Fisher and Warren Hodge, New York Times, Saturday, 19 April 2008, according to the article the Pope “insisted that human rights – more than force or pragmatic politics – must be the basis for ending war and poverty.” The pope believes “The promotion of human rights remains the most effective strategy for eliminating inequalities between countries and social groups, and for increasing security, Benedict told the General Assembly at United Nations headquarters.”

According to protocol for a UN visit the pope is considered a head of state, and thus outranks the UN secretary-general. The Holy See Permanent Observer State at the UN theoretically, may have been eligible to respond to the address of His Holiness from the floor of the General Assembly. The Holy See is the only UN Permanent Observer State that identifies with a religion. While not a member of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, the Holy See can sign and ratify human rights treaty-based covenants, conventions, non-binding declarations and discuss resolutions as an Observer State; on matters of morality and universal inclusiveness the pope called for on Friday. How the Vatican and Holy See Mission to the UN in Geneva will act in the future on the pope’s human rights message to the UN is addressed in this Issue Statement.

Extracts from the Pope’s address at the UN, past statements from the Holy See and others on Human Rights begin on page three, followed by an Issue Statement with attachments.

International Standards for National and Local Applications

Objective: Build understanding and support for Article 18, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights –Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion - and the 1981 UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. Encourage the United Nations, Governments, Religions or Beliefs, Academia, NGOs, Media and Civil Society to use international human rights standards as essential for long-term solutions to conflicts based on religion or belief.

Challenge: In 1968 the United Nations deferred work on an International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Religious Intolerance, because of its apparent complexity and sensitivity. In the twenty-first century, a dramatic increase of intolerance and discrimination on grounds of religion or belief is motivating a worldwide search to find solutions to these problems. This is a challenge calling for enhanced dialogue by States and others; including consideration of an International Convention on Freedom of Religion or Belief for protection of and accountability by all religions or beliefs. The tensions in today’s world inspire a question such as:

• Should the United Nations adopt an International Convention on Freedom of Religion or Belief?

Response: Is it the appropriate moment to reinitiate the drafting of a legally binding international convention on freedom of religion or belief? Law making of this nature requires a minimum consensus and an environment that appeals to reason rather than emotions. At the same time we are on a learning curve as the various dimensions of the Declaration are being explored. Many academics have produced voluminous books on these questions but more ground has to be prepared before setting up of a UN working group on drafting a convention. In my opinion, we should not try to rush the elaboration of a Convention on Freedom of Religion or Belief, especially not in times of high tensions and unpreparedness. - UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Asma Jahangir, Prague 25 Year Anniversary Commemoration of the 1981 UN Declaration, 25 November 2006.

Option: After forty years this may be the time, however complex and sensitive, for the United Nations Human Rights Council to appoint an Open-ended Working Group to draft a United Nations Convention on Freedom of Religion or Belief. The mandate for an Open-ended Working Group ought to assure nothing in a draft Convention will be construed as restricting or derogating from any right defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights, and the 1981 UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. One writer has said; “Religion raises the stakes of human conflict much higher than tribalism, racism, or politics ever can…it casts the differences between people in terms of eternal rewards and punishments.”

Concept: Separation of Religion or Belief and State – SOROBAS. The starting point for this concept is the First Preamble to the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights; “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. It suggests States recalling their history, culture and constitution adopt fair and equal human rights protection for all religions or beliefs as described in General Comment 22 on Article 18, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, UN Human Rights Committee, 20 July 1993 (CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.4):

• Article 18: protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief. The terms belief and religion are to be broadly construed. Article 18 is not limited in its application to traditional religions or to religions and beliefs with international characteristics or practices analogous to those of traditional religions. The Committee therefore views with concern any tendency to discriminate against any religion or belief for any reasons, including the fact that they are newly established, or represent religious minorities that may be the subject of hostility by a predominant religious community. Article 18: permits restrictions to manifest a religion or belief only if such limitations are prescribed by law and necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.

Education & Dialogue

Dialogue: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, at a UN backed Alliance of Civilizations Forum in January 2008 addressed the importance of dialogue; “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.” A writer in another setting said, “The warning signs are clear: unless we establish genuine dialogue within and among all kinds of belief, ranging from religious fundamentalism to secular dogmatism, the conflicts of the future will probably be even more deadly.” Solutions to conflicts over religious or philosophical ideology call for dialogue on the purpose of international law on freedom of religion or belief; and the value of these standards for regional, national and local applications.

Education: Ambassador Piet de Klerk addressed the Prague twenty-five year anniversary commemoration of the 1981 UN Declaration; “Our educational systems need to provide children with a broad orientation: from the very beginning, children should be taught that their own religion is one out of many and that it is a personal choice for everyone to adhere to the religion or belief by which he or she feels most inspired, or to adhere to no religion or belief at all.” Parents are a key to this application. The 1981 UN Declaration states; “Every child shall enjoy the right to have access to education in the matter of religion or belief in accordance with the wishes of his parents, and shall not be compelled to receive teaching on religion or belief against the wishes of his parents, the best interests of the child being the guiding principle.”

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Extracts: Extracts are presented under the Eight Articles of the 1981 U.N. Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. Examples of extracts are presented prior to an Issue Statement for each Review.

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 public safety, order, health, morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.

3. 1 Discrimination between human beings on grounds of religion or belief constitutes an affront to human dignity and a disavowal of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and shall be condemned as a violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and enunciated in detail in the International Covenants on Human Rights, and as an obstacle to friendly and peaceful relations between nations.

In his speech, Benedict touched on themes important both to his three-year-old papacy and his decades of writing as a cardinal and one of the church’s leading intellectuals. At base, the pope presented the idea that there are universal values that transcend the diversity-cultural, ethical or ideological- embodied in an institution like the United Nations, founded to help prevent the ruin of another world war. Those values are at the base of human rights, he said, as they are for religion. Thus religion, he said, cannot be shut out of a body like the United Nations, which he said aims at “a social order respectful of the dignity and rights of the person.” - In U.N. Address, Pope Stresses Importance of Defending Human Rights, by Ian Fisher and Warren Hodge, New York Times, Saturday, 19 April 2008.

And in a passage that will have particular resonance for the current United Nations leadership, which is trying to establish the right of the outside world to intervene in situations where nations fail to shield their own citizens from atrocities, the pope said that “every state has the primary duty to protect its own population from grave and sustained violations of human rights.” If states are unable to guarantee such protection,” the pope said, “the international community must intervene with the juridical means provided in the United Nations Charter and in other international instruments. - In U.N. Address, Pope Stresses Importance of Defending Human Rights, by Ian Fisher and Warren Hodge, New York Times, Saturday, 19 April 2008.

ISSUE STATEMENT: The focus of His Holiness on human rights in his address to the United Nations General Assembly has new challenging possibilities. The unique relationship of the Pope as religious leader and head of a UN Permanent Observer State was expressed in the introduction to initial report of the Holy See after they ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC/C/3/Add.27) 23 March 1994; “The Holy See wishes to draw the attention of the Committee on the Rights of the Child to its singular nature within the international community. As the highest organ of government of the Catholic Church, the Holy See is recognized as a sovereign subject of international law. It is nevertheless distinguished by its particular nature, which is essentially of a universal religious and moral character.”

Will the Holy See Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations in New York and Geneva follow-up on the Pope’s inspiring human rights address to countries represented in United Nations General Assembly? Will His Holiness provide leadership to his Permanent Observer Mission in Geneva to exercise moral leadership on the floor of the United Nations Human Rights Council? One key in answering this question is how the moral vision and truth statements of the Holy See or any religion or belief, becomes compatible with the vision of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In an age of increasing tension over religious ideology, open and transparent dialogue is desperately needed to see how truth statements of all religions or beliefs are compatible with the responsibilities demanded of each UN Member State by Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the 1981 UN Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief.

The definition of moral leadership by the United Nations calls for the Holy See to acknowledge the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights gives equal protection to theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief, as stated by the United Nations Human Rights Committee General Comment 22 on Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:

• The Committee observes that 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…States parties reports should provide information on the full scope and effects of limitations under article 18 (3), both as a matter of law and of their application in specific circumstances. – United Nations Human Rights Committee, General Comment 22: Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1993.

This has not been the position of the Holy See in the past and the question now becomes has the Pope’s address changed the Holy See paradigm putting the Human Rights Council on an equal basis with the Security Council. Forty years ago in 1968 the United Nations General Assembly deferred work on a draft Convention on Religious Intolerance due to perceived complexity and sensitivity:

• 1967: “At the General Assembly’s twenty-second session, the Third Committee had an opening general debate and a line-by-line review of the text of the draft convention. The convention’s most fierce critics were the Soviet Union, other communist states, and several African and Asian States. Since the draft Convention’s definition of “religion or belief’ included theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs; there was strong opposition from Islamic states, the Catholic Church, and other religious groups. At its twenty-third session in 1968, the General Assembly decided to defer consideration of the draft convention.” – Freedom of Religion or Belief: Ensuring Effective International Legal Protection, B.G. Tahzib

The position of the Holy See may have started to change even in advance of the Pope’s address to the United Nations. On September 14, 2007 in the Sixth extended session of the Human Rights Council, His Excellency Monsignor Silavano M. Thomasi, Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN in Geneva, gave a 4 minute presentation in response to Item 9: Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. Here is Monsignor Silavano M. Tomasi speaking of Freedom of Religion or Belief and Freedom of Opinion and Expression in concluding his statement:

• A just balance in the exercise of these two rights assumes a public function and contributes to special cohesion and therefore the peaceful living together of all minorities and majorities, believers and unbelievers, within the same country…In conclusion the appropriate social and political context within which to promote and protect all human rights, including the profession of a religion, changing or rejecting it, implies the acceptance that human rights are interrelated and that international standards should be translated into judicial legal and national provisions for the equal benefit, protection and freedom of every person. – His Excellency Monsignor Silvano M. Tomasi, Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN Office in Geneva.

You can download Real Player for free and watch the Monsignor’s live statement on the OHCHR archived Web cast: http://www.un.org/webcast/unhrc/archive.asp?go=070914

To get a picture of the Holy See at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva go to the OHCHR website, click on Select a Country, scroll to Holy See open. Click on this link:

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Pages/WelcomePage.aspx

The Holy See (Non-Member State) has active links to their Charter-bodies Database and Treaty-bodies Database. The Holy See has ratified two treaties; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). They have not signed or ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) which in our opinion would be a prerequisite if the Holy See were to follow-through on the Pope’s address to the United Nations. For the best explanation of the unique position of the Holy See to the United Nations, open the link to the 1994 initial report of the Holy See to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/3/Add.27 in the Treaty-body Database:

http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G94/159/87/PDF/G9415987.pdf?OpenElement

In the Charter-bodies Database the best way review the governance of the Holy See and Vatican City is under Special Procedures, Country Visits by Special Procedures, open the report of Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, now a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee. To open this report, E/CN.4/2000/65, you must go to the United Nations Official Documents Search (ODS) and in the Simple Search type in the Symbol E/CN.4/2000/65:

http://documents.un.org/simple.asp

A more recent report on Freedom of Religion or Belief was made by Asma Jahangir, Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, for consultations with the Holy See on 15-16 June 2006. In her report (A/61/340) of 13 September 2006, in paragraph 37 Ms. Jahangir she traveled to the Vatican and had “different meetings at the official level with representatives of the Holy See as well as a number of informal meetings with representatives of organizations and institutions and with other individuals who deal with questions related to the Catholic community.”

The Pope’s address on human rights to the countries of the U.N. General Assembly presents the best opportunity since 1967 to the challenge of how in open and honest dialogue to confront the lack of a United Nations Convention on Freedom of Religion or Belief. The new United Nations Human Rights Council is struggling for answers to complex questions presented by a lack of consensus on the mandates on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Freedom of Opinion and Expression. Divisive votes have been taken on these mandates (see Word Documents attached) that threaten work toward the “promotion of human rights as the most effective strategy for eliminating inequalities between countries and social groups and for increasing security,” called for by the Pope.

The Holy See as a Permanent Observer State with a Mission to the United Nations in Geneva has a unique opportunity to follow-up on the Pope’s message to the General Assembly, by suggesting to the United Nations Human Rights Council a way forward in this impasse. While not a Member State of the UN Human Rights Council, they can speak from the floor with moral authority as a religion and a country, to Member States on the Council that represent some disagreements to the Mandates on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Freedom of Opinion and Expression.

An opportunity presented itself this week in the UN Preparatory Committee, First Substantive Session for the Durban Review Conference. The intersection between Religion and Race is an item to be discussed by the Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of Complementary International Standards called for by the Durban Program of Action. The Tandem Project Issue Statement Closing the Gap – Religion or Belief and Racial Discrimination (Word Document attached) reflects on the gap in complementary standards between the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the 1968 deferred United Nations working group for a draft Convention on Religious Intolerance. Ambassador Indriss Jazairy of Algeria, Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee, announced at a panel presentation on Tuesday 22 April 2008, a call for written contributions on whether there are procedural or substantive gaps in international human rights instruments between race and religion at the Preparatory Committee Second Substantive Session tentatively scheduled for Geneva on 22-26 September 2008.

Would His Excellency Monsignor Silvano M. Tomasi, the Papal Nuncio in Geneva and the Vatican consider writing a paper for presentation at the September Ad Hoc Committee session as a follow-up to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI address to the General Assembly? The Vatican is joining a major theological dialogue between Christian and Islamic Scholars (Word Document attached). A paper prepared for the Ad Hoc Committee could be suggested diplomatically as the political equivalent of dialogue for the UN Human Rights Council, by reviewing the gaps in contemporary international human rights instruments between Religion or Belief and Racial Discrimination. The paper might consider the rationale for an Open-ended Working Group to draft a Convention on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Such a Working Group would give time to discuss sensitive and complex issues for consensus on these mandates at the UN Human Rights Council.

There is chasm not a gap between human rights instruments on racism and religion or belief. This has been true since 1968 when CERD became a Treaty-based Convention on race and religion or belief started down the path to a non-binding Charter-based Declaration. Ambassador Idriss Jazairy gave a green light to the Holy See when he called for written contributions to the Ad Hoc Committee meeting in September 2008. Many UN Member States on the Preparatory Committee called for further elaboration of “multiple” or complex forms of discrimination, and one panel member called for further elaboration of the root cultural cause of problems associated with race and religious discrimination. This is a green light for the Holy See in Geneva and the Vatican in Rome to produce a paper with a challenging new moral paradigm, as a follow-up to the Pope’s inspiring human rights address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

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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 Tandem Project Executive Director: Michael M. Roan, mroan@tandemproject.com.

Documents Attached:

UNIQUE POSITION OF THE POPE AT THE UNITED NATIONS

FREEDOM OF OPINION & EXPRESSION - FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF
HIGH LEVEL DIALOGUE BETWEEN MUSLIMS & CHRISTIANS

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF
CLOSING THE GAP - RELIGION OR BELIEF & RACISM

The Tandem Project is a UN NGO in Special Consultative Status with the

Economic and Social Council of the United Nations