THE TANDEM PROJECT
UNITED NATIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS,
FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF
LANGUAGE OF RELIGION IN
SUB-SAHARAN
Issue: Basic Questions about Language of Religion in
Sub-Saharan
For: United Nations, Governments, Religions or Beliefs,
Academia, NGOs, Media, Civil Society
Review: Conference Raises Questions about
Language of Religion in Sub-Saharan
The United Nations Human
Rights Council launched a plan in 2008 called the Universal Periodic Review.
All UN Member States have been assigned a date to review their international
human rights responsibilities and obligations.
The Durban
Conference will be helpful to Sub-Saharan Africa countries as a
follow up to their Universal Periodic Reviews.
Excerpts and comments
followed by complete article:
Conference Raises Basic Questions
about Language of Religion in Sub-Saharan
“Western perceptions of
religion and church-state relations must be put aside before productive
conversations about law, religion, and human rights can take place in
sub-Saharan Africa, according to religious liberty scholars and activists who
took part in a conference hosted by the Center for the Study of Law and
Religion (CSLR) April 30-May 3, 2008, in Durban, South Africa…The conference
discovered that when discussing religion in Africa, the immediate challenge is
defining the word “religion,” because its meaning is tangled in colonial
imposition of western definitions upon African cultural practices.”
The conference proposes
from an international human rights perspective to “identify ongoing and future
problem areas relating to the relationship between church and state and the
interaction of religion and law in the various regions and countries of the
world.” If defining the word “religion” is difficult because it imposes western
definitions upon African cultural practices alternatives to languages might be
structured that would accommodate international human rights, the Constitutions
and traditional African cultural practices in these countries at local levels.
The Center for the Study
of Law and Religion at
http://www.law.emory.edu/index.php?id=1570
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.
Western perceptions of religion and church-state
relations must be put aside before productive conversations about law,
religion, and human rights can take place in sub-Saharan Africa, according to
religious liberty scholars and activists who took part in a conference hosted by
the Center for the Study of Law and Religion (CSLR) April 30-May 3, 2008, in
Durban, South Africa.
Sponsored by the Henry Luce Foundation, Inc.,
the conference brought together 13 participants from nine African countries,
with CSLR Senior Fellows Johan
D. van der Vyver and M.
Christian Green serving as co-conveners. It was part of the Law, Religion, and Human
Rights in International Perspective project designed to identify ongoing
and future problem areas relating to the relationship between church and state and
the interaction of religion and law in the various regions of the world.
The conference discovered that when discussing
religion in
Many African traditional practices are
misunderstood or mislabeled because of a perceived similarity to clearly
defined religious activities in other parts of the world. What many might
misleadingly call “ancestral worship” may actually be better defined as “homage
to the forefathers,” which is the ritual of appealing to the ancestors for help
in a range of areas, from protection from natural disasters to bringing
happiness.
Another subject that contributes to the religious
confusion is a widespread belief in witchcraft. The problem lies in the debate
between whether or not witchcraft should be treated as religion or mere
superstition. If witchcraft is considered a religion, should it be
protected? Would it be constitutional for self-proclaimed witches and wizards
to practice their religion, even if in some cases it involves violation of
others’ rights?
The subject matter is sensitive and raises the
question, as one Liberian conference participant described, of “traditional
beliefs and practices versus the rule of law.” Phrased differently, “how does
one install respects for the rule of law where the law prohibits deeply rooted
belief structures and traditional practices?” The ultimate goal, according to
several participants in the conference, is cultivation of a human rights ethos
that can be instilled into traditional African communities without compromising
pride in their original identity.
Self-determination of religion was another
important focus of the conference. On a continent where many constitutions are
trying to reclaim their sense of national identity by promoting national
integration of not only races but also faith, loss of pride in one’s
distinctive identity becomes the unfortunate result. For example, when
JOHAN
VAN DER VYVER and M. CHRISTIAN GREEN
“Pride in one’s ethnic, linguistic and racial
extraction is a fact of life that ought to be encouraged, provided one refrains
from claiming political rights and powers founded on those salient group
identities which add to the individuality of every person,” said Van der Vyver.
Van der Vyver explains that African constitutions
reflect almost all varieties of church-state relations, but “the theoretical
constitutional provisions regulating the relationship between church and state
are perhaps in most cases fiction rather than fact.” For example,
Green, the Alonzo McDonald Family Senior
Researcher at the CSLR, said that church-state relationships in
Van der Vyver makes a point of separating the
terms “religiously neutral” and “secular” state, stating that secular states
uphold the wall between the church and state to distance themselves from
religious practices while a religiously neutral state seeks to uphold equal
treatment of all religions without precluding itself from participating in or
the sponsoring of religion. Van der Vyver explains that “if one upholds certain
religious rites because the state compels one to do so, observance of those rites
becomes a legal obligation and as such forfeits its faith-based (religious)
significance.”
The lack of true separation of church and state in
many African countries has led to religious discrimination. Although the oldest
religion in
As in all parts of the world, religion can be either
a powerful weapon in promoting moral values and enhancing humane conditions or
it can actively oppose principles associated with human rights and fundamental
freedoms. Pointing to the inferior status women hold in many countries, Van der
Vyver explained that “polygamy, the payment of dowry, and the inferior status
of women in African customary unions have thus far not been seriously
contested, or even questioned, by main-line religious institutions.” Because
there are adherents of Islam and Christianity that strongly oppose
homosexuality, measures to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation
have been met with incredible resistance.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Selected papers presented at the Durban Conference
will be published in the African Human Rights
Journal, and some of the more complex issues that arose are being
explored by CSLR and other conference participants. Among the topics being
pursued: the interaction of religion and culture; religious varieties with
special emphasis on African Traditional Religions and the independent African
(Protestant Christian) Churches; and secularism, religious neutrality, and
denominational preferences in church-state relations.
______________________________________________________________________________
ISSUE STATEMENT: 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.
General Comment 22 (48)
Article 18, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, UN Human
Rights Committee,
General Comment 22 (48)
Article 18, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, UN Human
Rights Committee, 20 July 1993 (CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.4): 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 exclusively from a single tradition.
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.
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.
______________________________________________________________________________
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. The
focus is 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.
The Tandem Project is a UN NGO in
Special Consultative Status with the
Economic and Social Council of
the United Nations
__________________________________________
Goal: To eliminate all forms of intolerance and
discrimination based on religion or belief.
Purpose: To 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
utilize International Human Rights Standards on Freedom of Religion or Belief
as essential for long-term solutions to conflicts
in all matters relating to religion or belief.
Objectives:
1. Use International
Human Rights Standards on Freedom of Religion or Belief as a platform for genuine
dialogue on the 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
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.
Separation of Religion or Belief
and State
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.
International Human Rights Standards on Freedom of Religion
or Belief are used to review the actions of governments, religions or beliefs,
non-governmental organizations and civil society under constitutional systems
such as Separation of Church and State,
Dialogue: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki
Moon, at the 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.”
International Human
Rights Standards on Freedom or Religion or Belief are international 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.
Education: Ambassador
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
build tolerance, understanding and respect for freedom of religion or belief.
Documents Attached:
Durban Conference - Basic Questions about Language of Religion in Sub-Saharan Africa
Zambia- Freedom of Religion or Belief - Dialogue Proposal as Follow-up to Universal Periodic Review