THE TANDEM PROJECT
UNITED NATIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS,
FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF
OPEN LETTER TO
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To: Norway; Governments, Religions or Beliefs, Academia,
NGOs, Civil Society.
Re:
Universal Periodic Review & Freedom of Religion or Belief
As we are all painfully
aware, religious conflict continues to escalate worldwide. Acceptance of the
rights of others to their own beliefs continues to be a value denied for
millions of people. Much suffering is inflicted in the name of religion or
belief on minorities, women and children and “the other” for the most part by
perpetrators in total disregard for the tenets of their own faiths.
The UN General Assembly
in 2008 adopted the Universal Periodic Review. Between 2008 and 2011 all United
Nations Member States will have a Universal Periodic Review before the U.N.
Human Rights Council on progress to fulfill their human rights responsibilities
and obligations.
The Norway Universal
Periodic Review will be held during the sixth session of the UN Human Rights
Council Universal Periodic Review in December, 2009.
Link: to a proposal for a
Universal
Periodic Review & Freedom of Religion or Belief
The Universal Periodic
Review on
The objections to a UN
Working Group is the danger of restricting or derogating gains already made in
rights-based law on freedom of religion or belief, especially when no consensus
currently exists by UN Member States on these core ideological issues;
apostasy, defamation, blasphemy, conversion and freedom of opinion and
expression.
This is shown in the
Human Rights Council Resolution on Combating Defamation of Religions
(A/HRC/10/L) for the Durban Review Conference. UN Watch director Hillel Neuer
speaking about the resolution said; “Ultimately, the very notion of individual
human rights is at stake, because the sponsors of this resolution seek not to
protect individuals from harm, but rather to shield a specific set of beliefs
from any question, debate, or critical inquiry. The very term ‘defamation of
religion’ is a distortion. The legal concept of defamation protects the
reputations of individuals, not beliefs. It also requires an examination of the
truth or falsity of the challenged remarks-a determination that no one,
especially not the UN, is capable of undertaking concerning any religion.”
A vote on resolution A/HRC/10/L
Combating Defamation of Religion will be taken in the tenth session of the UN
Human Rights Council at the end of March. It is likely to be passed by the UN
Human Rights Council.
Do advantages of a UN
Working Group outweigh the disadvantages? Deferral of a Convention on Religious
Intolerance in 1968 downgraded its intent as a core international treaty-based
human rights instrument to a declaration. This action demonstrated that freedom
of religion or belief is one of the most complex and sensitive of all human
rights instruments in ethnic, cultural and political affairs. It has led to
division of responsibility on issues in matters of religion or belief to other
treaty-based committees, working groups and sub-committees, diluting the focus
of religion or belief to stand alone as it was originally intended, as one of
the key 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
foundational treaty-based conventions, the UN human rights system will be
incomplete. Now is the time to renew the UN Working Group as a breakthrough
paradigm.
The challenge is to
reconcile international human rights standards on freedom of religion or belief
with the truth claims of religious and non-religious beliefs.
2010 is the fifty year
anniversary of the seminal 1960 study on freedom of religion or belief by Arcot
Krishnaswami of
He writes in the
footnote: “In view of the difficulty of defining ‘religion’, the term ‘religion
or belief’ is used in this study to include, in addition to various theistic
creeds, such other beliefs as agnosticism, free thought, atheism and
rationalism.”
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 a 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.”
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 are enshrined in international law to promote tolerance and prevent
discrimination based on religion or belief.
In spite or because of
the unsettled world situation, this may be the time for a new approach by the
UN Human Rights Council to renew a Working Group on Freedom of Religion or
Belief in honor of the 1960 Arcot Krishnaswami study.
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.
Sincerely,
Michael M. Roan
The Tandem Project
Link: to CULCOM faculty
programme at the
http://www.culcom.uio.no/english/news/2009/
Link: to website of The
Council for Religious and Life Stance Communities. Open the website. At the
bottom of the page open, The History of Interfaith Dialogue
in Norway, by Inge Eidsvag,
http://www.trooglivssyn.no/index.cfm?id=136722
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.
Open Letter to Norway - Universal Periodic Review & Freedom of Religion or Belief
Letter to - The Council for Religious and Life Stance Communities
Dialogue - 2009 Report by UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief