THE TANDEM PROJECT
UNITED NATIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS,
FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF
SEPARATION OF
FOR THE
Issue: Separation of
For: United Nations, Governments, Religions or Beliefs,
Academia, NGOs, Media, Civil Society
Review:
In 2008 the UN Human
Rights Council launched a process called the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)
for UN Member States to review their progress to fulfill human rights
responsibilities and obligations. Each State will be reviewed by the UN Human
Rights Council sometime between 2008 and 2011. The Universal Periodic Review
begins with a presentation of a National Report by a UN Member State and
inter-active dialogue with the UN Human Rights Council. The Human Rights
Council drafts a Working Group Report after the dialogue with the Human Rights
Council and other Stakeholders. Preparation and Follow-up of a Universal
Periodic Review is an important part of the process.
The Norwegian Universal
Periodic Review will be held in 2009.
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* Link: U.S. State
Department International Religious Freedom Report on Norway; Overview; Religious Demography; Legal/Policy Framework; Restrictions on
Freedom of Religion or Belief; Societal Abuse and
Discrimination. Click to open complete
report.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90192.htm
Source:
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108464.htm
Source:
Links to State Department
sites are welcomed. Unless a copyright is indicated, information on the State
Department’s main website is in the public domain and may be copied and
distributed without permission. Citation of the U.S. State Department as source
of the information is appreciated.
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Link: Interview Humanism in
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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, practice 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.
7. 1 The rights and freedoms
set forth in the present Declaration shall be accorded in national legislation
in such a manner that everyone shall be able to avail himself of such rights
and freedoms in practice.
“HUMANISM IN
In 1814,
Then Article 12 of the
Constitution stipulates that at least 50% of the Prime Minister’s cabinet has
to be members of the state church. Norway’s King is also required to be a
member of the Lutheran Church – strangely, the head of the state is denied
freedom of religion or belief!
The Norwegian Humanist
Association’s aim is to separate Church and State, and to introduce liberty for
all religions and life stances on equal terms.
What happened in
While
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT -
On
Church officials and some politicians spoke in
favor of greater separation in the state-church relationship. In 2003 the
Government appointed an official State-Church Commission to review the future
of the state-church relationship. The commission's purpose was to ascertain
whether the state-church system should be maintained, reformed, or
discontinued. The commission had its own secretariat and included members from
several areas of society, including different church groups and other religious
groups, politicians, legal experts, and the Sami people.
On
A religious community must register with the
Government only if it desires state support, which is provided to all
registered denominations in proportion to their membership.
A 1997 law introduced the
Christian Knowledge and Religious and Ethical Information (CKREE) course for
grades 1 through 10 (ages 6 to 16). The CKREE reviews world religions and
philosophy while promoting tolerance and respect for all religious beliefs.
Citing the country's Christian history (and given the stated importance of
Christianity to society), the CKREE devotes an extensive amount of time to
studying Christianity. This class is mandatory, without any exceptions for
children of other religious groups. On special grounds, students may be
exempted from participating in or performing specific religious acts, such as
church services or prayer, but they cannot forgo religious instruction.
Organizations for atheists, as
well as Muslim communities, have contested the legality of forced religious
teaching, claiming that it is a breach of freedom of religion and parents'
right to provide religious instruction to their children. In 2002 the humanist
association appealed the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and
the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC). In November 2004 the UNHRC
decided that the requirement of a mandatory religion class violated article 18
of the ICCPR and stated that the law violated parents' right to determine their
children's religious and moral upbringing. In response, the Government gave
parents the right to exempt their children from the CKREE until August 2005
(when a new curriculum was implemented). In December 2006 the ECHR reviewed the
case. In a verdict rendered on June 29, 2007, the ECHR held in a near-split
decision that article 2 of the European Human Rights Convention's Protocol No.
1 was violated. In reply the Minister of Education stated that the verdict
would be evaluated, the Government would determine whether additional CKREE
course amendments would be introduced, and that the case would not be appealed.
Under the new curriculum,
Christianity, as the state religion, continued to receive a larger percentage
of the class's teaching time than other religious groups. The final law states
that children cannot receive complete class exemption. Limited exemptions may
occur with respect to specific classroom activities, such as hymn singing or
public prayer.
The humanist association did not
support the curriculum changes. The association asserted in a letter to the
UNHRC that the CKREE curriculum revisions were only cosmetic and did not create
a religion and belief-neutral class. In addition the association advocated that
the partial exemption right be expanded. The association claimed that the UNHRC
concerns had not been heeded and the CKREE curriculum, as revised, continued to
violate Article 18 of the ICCPR.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
In 2008 there was a public debate about
introducing greater separation in the state-church relationship. In April 2008
the Minister of Culture presented the results of a parliament-commissioned report
on the state and church relationship that had been 5 years in the making and
had included significant public input. The report called for maintaining the
state church but for further democratization of the Church and for the
Government to consider changes to the Constitution that would further separate
church and state functions.
One of the immediate effects was the signing of a
church agreement that gives the state church the ability to select, but not
appoint, its own bishops, a role that had previously been fulfilled by the
King's Council. The legal power to officially appoint bishops will not be
transferred to the Church until Parliament amends the Constitution on this
point, which it was expected to do during the 2009-11 session.
A 1997 law introduced the
Christian Knowledge and Religious and Ethical Information (CKREE) course for
grades 1 through 10 (generally ages 6 to 16). The CKREE reviews world religions
and philosophy while promoting tolerance and respect for all religious beliefs.
Citing the country's Christian history (and given the stated importance of
Christianity to society), the CKREE devotes an extensive amount of time to
studying Christianity. This class is mandatory, without any exceptions for
children of other religious groups. On special grounds, students may be
exempted from participating in or performing specific religious acts, such as
church services or prayer.
Organizations for atheists, as well as Muslim communities, contested the
legality of mandatory religious education, claiming that it was a breach of
freedom of religion and parents' right to provide religious instruction to
their children. After the case was heard before the European Court of Human
Rights (ECHR) in 2002 and again in 2006, the Government modified the curriculum
and expanded the education to more thoroughly discuss other religions while
continuing an emphasis on Christianity as the religion of the majority of
citizens.
ISSUE STATEMENT: Two Norwegian issues call for review under
International Human Rights Standards on Freedom of Religion or Belief are:
proposed Constitutional amendments to Separation of State Church and State by
their national legislature, and the Norwegian education curriculum, in
violation of Article 2 of the European Court of Human Rights (Word Document
attached).
The Tandem Project
Objectives: (1) Use International Human Rights Standards on Freedom of Religion
or Belief as a platform for genuine dialogue on core principles and values
within and among nations, all religions and other beliefs. (2) Adapt these
human rights standards to early childhood education, teaching children, from
the very beginning, 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.1
International Human Rights Standards on Freedom of
Religion or Belief are international human rights treaty law and universal
codes of conduct for peaceful cooperation, respectful competition and
resolution of conflicts. The standards are a platform for genuine dialogue on
core principles and values within and among nations, all religions and other
beliefs.
Surely one of the best hopes for humankind is to embrace
a culture in which religions and other beliefs accept one another, in which
wars and violence are not tolerated in the name of an exclusive right to truth,
in which children are raised to solve conflicts with mediation, compassion and
understanding.
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STANDARDS: http://www.tandemproject.com/program/81_dec.htm
Submit information under the Eight Articles and
sub-paragraphs of the 1981 U.N. Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of
Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief by using The Tandem
Project Country & Community Database.
http://www.tandemproject.com/databases/forms/card.htm
Introduction: The Tandem Project is dedicated to support for
International Human Rights Standards on Freedom of Religion or Belief, with a
focus on fundamental values shared virtually universally by public, private,
religious and non-religious organizations to change how our cultures view
differences, how we often behave toward one another and to forestall the
reflexive hostility we see so vividly around the world.
As we are all painfully
aware, religious conflict continues to escalate worldwide whether in the
Surely one of the best hopes for the future of
humankind is to embrace a culture in which religions and other beliefs accept
one another, in which wars and violence are not tolerated in the name of an
exclusive right to truth, in which children are raised to solve conflicts with
mediation, compassion and understanding.
The Tandem Project: a non-governmental organization founded
in 1986 to build understanding, tolerance and respect for diversity, and to
prevent discrimination in matters relating to freedom of religion or belief.
The Tandem Project, a non-profit NGO, 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 1981 United Nations
Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination
Based on Religion or Belief.
The Tandem Project
initiative is the result of a co-founder representing the World Federation of United
Nations Associations at the United Nations Geneva Seminar, Encouragement
of Understanding, Tolerance and Respect in
Matters Relating to Freedom of Religion or Belief, called by the UN
Secretariat in 1984 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 is: Michael M. Roan, mroan@tandemproject.com.
Documents Attached:
Norway - Separation of State Church and State - Preparation for Norway UPR in 2009
Norwegian Primary School Curriculum - Violates Article 2 - European Convention on Human Rights
The Tandem Project is a UN NGO in
Special Consultative Status with the
Economic and Social Council of
the United Nations