THE TANDEM PROJECT
UNITED NATIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS,
FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF
N.Y. TIMES – IN
Issue:
For: United Nations, Governments, Religions or Beliefs,
Academia, NGOs, Media, Civil Society
Review:
The direct links are to the U.N. Official Documents
Section (ODS) for the report by Algeria on their recent Universal Periodic
Review (A/HRC/RES/6/37); follow-up report of the Working Group for the Algeria
Universal Periodic Review (A/HRC/WG.6/1/DZA/1); a report on a country visit by
the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Abdelfattah Amor,
to Algeria in 2002 (E/CN.4/2002/66/Add.1); and a direct link to the U.S. State
Department 2007 Report on International Religious Freedom in Algeria.
An Issue Statement follows on Islam and Education in
Direct Links and Excerpts begin
on the third page followed by an Issue Statement
Closing the Gap - 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
consider the rule of law and 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,
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.
Concept: Separation of Religion or
Belief and State – SOROBAS. The First Preamble to the 1948 United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads; “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 concept
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,
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.
Dialogue & Education
Dialogue: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki
Moon, at an Alliance of Civilizations Madrid Forum 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.” A writer in another setting has 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.”
Norms and standards on
human rights and freedom of religion or belief are essential as universal rules
for peaceful cooperation, respectful competition and resolution of conflicts.
International Standards on Human Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief is a
universal platform to establish genuine, inclusive within and among nations,
all religions and other beliefs.
Education:
The 1981 U.N. 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.” With International
Human Rights safeguards, early childhood education is the best time to begin to
teach tolerance, understanding and respect for freedom of religion or belief.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Direct Link to N.Y. Times article – In Algeria a
Tug of War for Young Minds
2. Direct Link U.N. Official Documents Section (ODS)
for government of Algeria Universal Periodic Report (UPR):
http://documents.un.org/welcome.asp?language=E
Click Simple Search:
Select Language: Type Symbol: A/HRC/8/29: Type Date of Publication:
3. Direct Link U.N.
Official Documents Section (ODS) for Algeria Working Group Universal Periodic
Review (UPR) Report:
http://documents.un.org/welcome.asp?language=E
Click Simple Search:
Select Language: Type Symbol: A/HRC/WG.6/1/DZA/1: Type Date of Publication:
4. Direct Link to U.N.
OHCHR website for Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Algeria
country visit, September 2002:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Pages/WelcomePage.aspx
Click: Your Human
Rights/Human Rights Issues: Click: Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or
Belief: Click: Country Visits: Click:
5. Direct Link to
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90207.htm
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Excerpts: Excerpts 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. 1 Everyone shall have the
right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include
freedom to have a religion or whatever belief of his choice, and freedom,
either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to
manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practices and teaching.
1. 2. No one shall be subject to
coercion which would impair his freedom to have a religion or belief of his
choice.
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.
ALGIERS – In Algeria, a Tug of War
for Young Minds, by Michael Slackman, New York Times, Monday, June
23, 2008. “First, Abdel Malke Outas’s teachers taught him to write math
equations in Arabic, and embrace Islam and the Arab world. Then they told him
to write in Latin letters that are no longer branded unpatriotic, and open his
mind to the West.”
Malek is 19, and he is confused. “When we were in
middle school we studied only in Arabic,” he said. “When we went to high
school, they changed the program, and a lot is in French. Sometimes, we don’t
even understand what we are writing.
The confusion has bled off the pages of his math
book and deep into his life. One moment, he is rapping; another, he recounts
how he flirted with terrorism, agreeing two years ago to go with a recruiter to
kill apostates in the name of jihad.
At a time of religious revival across the Muslim
world,
Now the government is urgently trying to
re-engineer Algerian identity, changing the curriculum to wrest momentum from
the Islamists, provide its youth with more employable skills and combat the
terrorism it fears schools have inadvertently encouraged. It appears to be the
most ambitious attempt in the region to change a school system to make its
students less vulnerable to religious extremism.
But many educators are resisting the changes, and
many disenchanted young men are dropping out of schools. It is a tense time in
There is a sense this country could still go
either way. Young people here in the capital appear extremely observant,
filling mosques for the daily prayers, insisting that they have a place to pray
in school. The strictest form of Islam, Wahabism from
And yet, the young in
“We say that
Over the years the government has pushed back,
reintroducing French, removing the most zealous religious teachers and trying
to revise the religious curriculum. Seven years ago, a committee appointed by
the president issued a report calling for an overhaul of the school system- and
it died under intense political pressure, mostly from the Islamists and
conservatives, officials said.
But this year, the government is beginning to make
substantive changes. The schools are moving from rote learning – which was
always linked to memorizing the Koran – to critical thinking, where teachers
ask students to research subject and think about concepts.
Yet the students and teachers are still
unprepared, untrained and, in many cases, unreceptive. “Before teachers used to
explain the lesson,” Malek said. “Now they want us to think more, to research,
but it’s very difficult for us.”
ISSUE STATEMENT: This New York Times article demonstrates the courage
and commitment of the Algerian National Ministry of Education to bring
educational reform and curriculum for skills in critical
thinking needed by Algerian youth in the twenty-first century, in
the face of Islamist extremism and terrorism. On the other hand it shows the
depth of cultural differences between the West and Islam, and the conundrum of cultural tension between U.N. Human Rights Council Member
States in the European Union (EU) and those in the Organization of the Islamic
Conference (OIC), over a draft resolution to extend the mandate on the
elimination of all forms of intolerance and of discrimination based on religion
or belief.
It has been forty years since the United Nations
General Assembly decided in 1968 to defer work on a draft Convention on Freedom
of Religion or Belief. It may be another forty years before they take up work
again on such a human rights instrument. There are several options;
to never draft a Convention on Freedom of Religion or Belief, to wait to begin
work on a Convention until we have a less divisive world, or to act now in the
face of challenges in the twenty-first century.
See History; United Nations, Human Rights and Freedom
of Religion or Belief in the attached Word Document. Current human
rights indicators suggest we may be involved more in a “Clash of Civilizations”
than an “Alliance of Civilizations” as the United Nations sponsored effort
suggests.
This was apparent on
9. (a) To ensure that the constitution and legislative
system provide adequate and effective guarantees of freedom of thought,
conscience, religion and belief to all without distinction, inter alia, by the
provision of effective remedies in cases where the right to freedom of thought,
conscience, religion or belief, or the right to practice freely one’s religion,
including the right to change one’s
religion or belief is violated.”
Link to U.N. Human Rights Council draft resolution
(A/HRC/RES/6/37) on the elimination of all forms of intolerance and of
discrimination based on religion or belief:
http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/E/HRC/resolutions/A_HRC_RES_6_37.pdf
Sam Harris, in writing a Letter to a Christian Nations, has said: “Religion raises
the stakes of human conflict much higher than tribalism, racism, or politics
ever can, as it is the only form of in-group/out-group thinking that casts the
differences between people in terms of eternal rewards
and punishments.” Another writer has said: “the warning signs are clear: 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 will probably
be even more deadly.”
In the attached Word Document, History: United Nations, Human
Rights, Freedom of Religion or Belief, 1967-68, shows why after forty years, multi-cultural
debates and discussion on freedom of religion or belief in the United Nations
have not changed all that much.
The Algeria Universal
Periodic Review (UPR) adopted by the U.N. Human Rights Council, points to
ominous signs that we have made little progress
toward the establishment of universal international human rights standards on
freedom of religion or belief, that go much beyond words and empty pledges. In
the inter-active follow-up to the Working Group report (A/HRC/8/29) in
paragraph 31, “The Holy See noted that the Special Rapporteur on freedom of
religion or belief raised concerns about the law adopted in 2006 on the
practice of religions other than Islam, which limit the practice of other
religions.”
The Conclusions and
Recommendations to (A/HRC/8/29) by
In 2002 then Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Abdellfatah Amor, made an official
country visit to Algeria (September 2002, E/CN.4/2002/66/Add.1.) His Conclusions
and Recommendations to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, shows progress as well
as a lack of forward momentum from
2003-2008 in the Algerian pledge to improve human rights standards. His
Conclusions and Recommendations can be accessed by opening the direct link
above.
Norms and standards on
human rights and freedom of religion or belief are essential as universal rules
for peaceful cooperation, respectful competition and the resolution of
conflicts. International Standards on Human Rights and Freedom of Religion or
Belief is a universal platform for
genuine, inclusive dialogue within and among nations, all religions and other
beliefs.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
* Preface Closing the Gap – International Standards for National and Local
Applications, considers the question of a Convention on Freedom of
Religion or Belief followed by a Response from the Special Rapporteur on
Freedom of Religion or Belief and The Tandem Project Option and Concept
including a program for human rights-based Dialogue & Education.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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:
HISTORY - UNITED NATIONS & FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF
The Tandem Project is a UN NGO in
Special Consultative Status with the
Economic and Social Council of
the United Nations
WORD DOCUMENTS ATTACHED