THE TANDEM PROJECT
UNITED NATIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS,
FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF
2009 REPORT OF THE UN SPECIAL
RAPPORTEUR ON FREEDOM
OF RELIGION OR BELIEF & CALL FOR
A UN WORKING GROUP
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Issue: 2009 U.N. Special Rapporteur Report on Freedom of
Religion or Belief & Call for a UN Working Group.
For: United Nations, Governments, Religions or Beliefs,
Academia, NGOs, Media, Civil Society
Review: Promotion and Protection of all
Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Including
the Right to Development, (A/HRC/10/8) - Report of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion
or Belief,
The report of the UN Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief was rescheduled for
http://www.un.org/webcast/unhrc/archive.asp?go=010
Here are links to the
2009 UN report (A/HRC/10/8/) and addendum on her visit to
Summary - 2009 UN
Report by Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Dialogue - 2009
Report by UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Economic-Social-Cultural
Rights - 2009 Report UN Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Israel & OPT -
2009 Visit of UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief
The Tandem Project believes
that the Universal Periodic Review on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian
Territories illustrate a need for a new United Nations system approach for
long-term solutions to conflicts based on religion or belief. This should begin
with a call to the UN Human Rights Council to establish a Working Group for a
Convention on Freedom of Religion or Belief, deferred since 1968.
The objections to a UN
Working Group are these; derogating the gains made in rights-based law on
freedom of religion or belief, lack of consensus by UN Member States on core
ideological issues such as apostasy, defamation, conversion and freedom of
opinion and expression.
The advantages of a UN
Working Group, in our opinion, outweigh the disadvantages. Deferral of a
Convention on Religious Intolerance in 1968 led to a downgrade from a core
international treaty-based human rights instrument to declaration. This
deferral demonstrates the complexity and sensitivity of religion as a human
rights instrument in ethnic, cultural and political affairs. Issues in matters
of religion or belief began to be sent to several treaty-based committees,
working groups and sub-committees, diluting the focus of religion or belief to
stand alone as it was intended to be, one of the first core international
treaty-based human rights instruments anchoring the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.
Until freedom of religion
or belief achieves treaty-based convention status, at a level with other
treaty-based conventions, the UN human rights system will be incomplete. Now
may be the time to renew the UN Working Group as a breakthrough paradigm. The
awesome challenge is to reconcile international human rights standards on
freedom of religion or belief with the truth claims of religious and
non-religious beliefs, not an easy task.
2010 is the fifty year
anniversary of the seminal 1960 study on freedom of religion or belief by Arcot
Krishnaswami of
2010 is the year for the
UN Human Rights Council to establish a Working Group on Freedom of Religion or
Belief in honor of the 1960 Arcot Krishnaswami study.
As we are all painfully
aware, religious conflict continues to escalate worldwide whether in the
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.” Another writer in different 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.”
Inclusive and genuine
dialogue is essential as a first step in the preamble to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights; recognition of the
inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the
human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.
The leaders of religious and non-religious beliefs sanction the truth claims of
their own traditions. They are the key to raising awareness and acceptance of
the value to respectfully hold truth claims in tandem with human rights
standards on freedom of religion or belief.
International Human Rights Standards on Freedom of
Religion or Belief monitor governments, religions or beliefs, non-governmental
organizations, civil society and individuals living under constitutional
systems such as separation of church and state, state church, theocratic, and
non-constitutional legal frameworks. This inclusive nomenclature may really be
called Separation of Religion or Belief and State, equal,
fair and practical support for all theistic, non-theistic and
atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief; as
proposed by Arcot Krishnaswami in 1960 and written in the UN Human Rights
Committee General Comment on Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights.
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.
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.
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.
2. 1 No one shall be subject to
discrimination by any State, institution, group of persons or person on the
grounds of religion or other beliefs.
Gender
– 2009 Report of UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief
(A/HRC/10/8)
D. Application of a Gender
Perspective
25. Since 1996, the
Commission on Human Rights and the Human Rights Council has persistently
stressed in their resolutions the need to continue to apply a gender perspective,
inter alia, through the identification of gender-specific abuses, in the
reporting process, including in information collection and in recommendations.
In doing so they have constantly reaffirmed the need for the Special Rapporteur
to highlight situations and address cases pertaining to discrimination against
women based on religion or belief.
26. In 2002, the previous
mandate-holder submitted a comprehensive study on freedom of religion or belief
and the status of women from the viewpoint of religion and traditions
(E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.2), in which he noted that many forms of discrimination
against women were based on or attributed to religion, tolerated by the State
and in some cases enshrined in legislation. At the heart of this problem lies
the fact that discriminatory and harmful practices against women, such as
female genital mutilation, polygamy, discriminations related to inheritance,
sacred prostitution, general preference to have boys, are often perpetrated by
individuals or communities who perceive them as a religious obligation or as
being part of their freedom to manifest their religion or belief. However, the
previous mandate-holder argued that religions have not invented discriminatory
and harmful practices against women; rather these practices are mainly
attributable to a cultural interpretation of religious precepts.
The concepts of culture and religion are, however,
inextricably linked; it is therefore difficult to dissociate religion from
culture and traditions, since religion is itself a tradition. Nonetheless, he
concluded that an important number of these discriminatory practices have
decreased over time. This is mainly due to a willful strategy of the State to
tackle the root causes by modifying certain cultural schemes through reforms
pertaining to, inter alia, all aspects of social and family life. The previous
mandate-holder emphasized that, while certain traditional practices have
ancestral origins, the Government nevertheless remains responsible to protect
women from discriminatory practices perpetrated by individuals or communities
on its territory.
27. The responsibility to
protect women from discriminatory practices based on, or attributed to,
religion has also been addressed by the current mandate-holder since 2004. At
the very outset, the Special Rapporteur re-emphasized that freedom of religion
or belief is a fundamental human right of a non-derogable character which can
be limited only under restricted conditions determined pursuant to article 18
(3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Nevertheless,
this right, like other human rights, cannot be used to justify the violation of
other human rights.
28. The Special Rapporteur
has sent joint communications with other special procedures mandate-holders –
such at the Special Rapporteur on the violence against women, its causes and
consequences and the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially
women and children – on cases where women suffer from discrimination on the
grounds of gender and religion or belief. In addition, several of her recent
country reports include subchapters on the specific situation of women
(A/HRC/7/10/Add.2 and Add.3; A/HRC/10/8/Add.2 and Add.3). In these reports, she
refers to discriminatory and harmful practices against women, including honor
killings, polygamy, marriage or underage girls and prohibition or coercion to
wear religious symbols. She has also devoted particular attention to
religion-based personal laws, in particular areas of divorce, inheritance, custody
of children and transmission of citizenship.
ISSUE STATEMENT: 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 inclusive and genuine dialogue on core principles
and values within and among nations, all religions and other beliefs.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Documents Attached:
2009 UN Report on Freedom of Religion or Belief & Call for a UN Working Group
Universal Periodic Review & Freedom of Religion or Belief
A Local-National-Global Conflict & Freedom of Religion or Belief
STANDARDS: http://www.tandemproject.com/program/81_dec.htm
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.
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.” Another writer in different 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.”
Challenge: to reconcile international human rights
standards on freedom of religion or belief with the truth claims of religious
and non-religious beliefs.
Did God create us or did
we create God? This question calls for inclusive and genuine dialogue,
respectful and thoughtful responses, discussion of taboos and clarity by
persons of diverse beliefs. Inclusive and genuine is dialogue between people of
theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as
well as the right not to profess any religion or belief. These UN
categories embodied in international law promote tolerance and prevent
discrimination based on religion or belief.
Inclusive and genuine
dialogue is essential as a first step in recognition of the inherent dignity,
equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family, and a
foundation for freedom, justice and peace in the world. Leaders of religious
and non-religious beliefs sanction the truth claims of their own traditions.
They are the key to raising awareness and acceptance of the value of holding
truth claims in tandem with human rights standards on freedom of religion or
belief.
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 use 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
History: 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.
Dialogue: 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
1981 U.N. Declaration on Freedom
of Religion or Belief
5.2: 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.
5.3: The child shall be protected from any form of discrimination
on the grounds of religion or belief. He shall be brought up in a spirit of
understanding, tolerance, and friendship among peoples, peace and universal
brotherhood, respect for the freedom of religion or belief of others and in
full consciousness that his energy and talents should be devoted to the service
of his fellow men.