THE TANDEM PROJECT
UNITED NATIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS,
FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF
Separation of Religion or Belief
& State
HINTS OF PLURALISM BEGIN TO
APPEAR IN EGYPTIAN RELIGIOUS DEBATES
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Issue: Hints of Pluralism Begin to Appear in Egyptian
Religious Debates.
For: United Nations, Governments, Religions or Beliefs,
Academia, NGOs, Media, Civil Society
Review: Memo from Cairo: Hints of
Pluralism Begin to Appear in Egyptian Religious Debates, by Michael Slackman, New York Times,
Monday August 31, 2009.
This article points to
greater tolerance for diversity of religion or belief in
While recognizing the
religious and cultural sensitivity these issues engender, it is time for the UN
Human Rights Council to establish a Open-ended Working Group for a UN
Convention on Freedom of Religion or Belief, deferred since 1968 by its
predecessor the UN Human Rights Commission, and to strengthen the Special
Procedures mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or
Belief.
The Egypt Universal
Periodic Review will be held by the UN Human Rights Council in early 2010. It
will not be adopted and posted until late 2010. The Tandem
Project Follow-up with specific recommendations for
UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW
The Universal Periodic Review
(UPR) is a unique process launched by the UN Human Rights Council in 2008 to
review the human rights obligations and responsibilities of all UN Member
States by 2011. Click for the Introduction to the Universal Periodic Review and
Current News:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRMain.aspx
The primary human rights
instruments on international law and freedom of religion or belief are:
Article 18 International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights and the 1981 Declaration on the Elimination of
all Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief.
General Comment 22 on
Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/9a30112c27d1167cc12563ed004d8f15?Opendocument
The 1981 UN Declaration: http://www.tandemproject.com/program/81_dec.htm
THE TANDEM PROJECT FOLLOW-UP
The Tandem Project Follow-up is an updated adaptation of The Tandem
Project 1986 Community Strategies that
propose, at local levels, concrete action steps to implement Article 18 and the
1981 UN Declaration on Freedom of Religion or Belief: http://www.tandemproject.com/tolerance.pdf
(1) Develop model local-national-international
integrated approaches to human rights and freedom of religion or belief,
appropriate to the constitutions, legal systems and cultures of each country,
(2) Use International Human Rights Standards on Freedom of Religion or Belief
as a platform for inclusive and genuine dialogue, (3) Apply these standards on
freedom of religion or belief in education curricula, “teaching children, from
the very beginning, that their own religion is one out of many and 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.”
Example: Universal
Periodic Review & Freedom of Religion or Belief
HINTS OF
PLURALISM BEGIN TO APPEAR
IN
EGYPTIAN RELIGIOUS DEBATES
CAIRO — Writing in his
weekly newspaper column, Gamal al-Banna said recently that God had created
humans as fallible and therefore destined to sin. So even a scantily clad belly
dancer, or for that matter a nude dancer, should not automatically be condemned
as immoral, but should be judged by weighing that person’s sins against her
good deeds.
This view is provocative
in Egypt’s conservative society,
where many argue that such thinking goes against the hard and fast rules of
divine law. Within two hours of the article’s posting last week on the Web site
of Al Masry al Youm, readers had left more
than 30 comments — none supporting his position.
“So a woman can dance at
night and pray in the morning; this is duplicity and ignorance,” wrote a reader
who identified himself as Hany. “Fear God and do not preach impiety.”
Still, Mr. Banna was
pleased because at least his ideas were being circulated. Mr. Banna, who is 88
years old and is the brother of Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim
Brotherhood, has been preaching liberal Islamic views for decades.
But only now, he said,
does he have the chance to be heard widely. It is not that a majority agrees
with him; it is not that the tide is shifting to a more moderate interpretative
view of religion; it is just that the rise of relatively independent media —
like privately owned newspapers, satellite television channels and the Internet
— has given him access to a broader audience.
And there is another
reason: The most radical and least flexible thinkers no longer intimidate
everyone with differing views into silence.
“Everything has its time,”
Mr. Banna said, seated in his dusty office crammed with bookshelves that
stretch from floor to ceiling.
It is a testament to how
little public debate there has been over the value of pluralism, or more
specifically of the role of religion in society, that so many see the mere
chance to provoke as progress. But now, more than any time in many years, there
are people willing to risk challenging conventional thinking, said writers,
academics and religious thinkers like Mr. Banna.
“There is a relative
development, enough to at least be able to present a different opinion that
confronts the oppressive religious current which prevails in politics and on
the street, and which has made the state try to outbid the religious groups,”
said Gamal Asaad, a former member of Parliament and a Coptic intellectual.
It is difficult to say
exactly why this is happening. Some of those who have begun to speak up say
they are acting in spite of — and not with the encouragement of — the Egyptian
government. Political analysts said that the government still tried to compete
with the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned but tolerated Islamic movement, to
present itself as the guardian of conservative Muslim values.
Several factors have
changed the public debate and erased some of the fear associated with
challenging conventional orthodoxy, political analysts, academics and social
activists said. These include a disillusionment and growing rejection of the
more radical Islamic ideology associated with Al Qaeda, they said. At the same
time, President Obama’s outreach to the
Muslim world has quieted the accusation that the
“It is not a strategic or
transformational change, but it is a relative change,” said Mr. Asaad, who
emphasized that the dynamic was for Christians as well as Muslims in
Two events this summer
highlighted the new willingness of a minority to confront the majority — and
the overwhelming response by a still conservative community.
In June, a writers’
committee affiliated with the Ministry of Culture gave a prestigious award to
Sayyid al-Qimni, a sharp critic of Islamic fundamentalism who in 2005 stopped
writing, disavowed his own work and moved after receiving death threats for his
writing.
Muhammad Salmawy, a
committee member and president of the Egyptian Writers’ Union, said he thought
Mr. Qimni had been honored in part because “he represents the secular direction
and discusses religion on an objective basis and is against the religious
current.”
What happened next
followed a predictable path, but then veered. Islamic fundamentalists like Sheik
Youssef al-Badri asked the government to revoke the
award and moved to file a lawsuit against Mr. Qimni and the government.
“Salman Rushdie was less
of a disaster than Sayyid al-Qimni,” said Mr. Badri in a television appearance
on O TV, an independent Egyptian satellite channel. “Salman Rushdie, everyone
attacked him because he destroyed Islam overtly. But Sayyid al-Qimni is attacking
Islam and destroying it tactfully, tastefully and politely.”
But this time Mr. Qimni
did not go into hiding. He appeared on the television show, sitting beside
Sheik Badri as he defended himself.
A second development
involved a religious minority, Bahais, who face discrimination in
An independent group, The
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, won a court order on behalf of the
Bahais that forced the government to issue records leaving the religious
identification blank. The first cards were issued this month. While the
decision was aimed specifically at solving the problem faced by the Bahai
community, the case tapped into the evolving debate, said the group’s executive
director, Hossam Bahgat.
“It is an unprecedented
move to recognize that one can be Egyptian and not adhere to one of these three
religions,” Mr. Bahgat said. Still, he remains less than optimistic; most of
the public reaction to the Bahais’ legal victory was negative, Mr. Bahgat said.
“It is known that you are
apostates,” read one of many comments posted on Al Youm Al Sabei, an online
newspaper.
But there has been at
least a hint of diversity and debate in response to Mr. Banna’s remarks on
belly dancers. Hours after they were posted, some readers began, however
tentatively, to come to his defense. “Take it easy on the man,” an anonymous
post said. “He did not issue a religious edict saying belly dancing is
condoned. But he is saying that a person’s deeds will be weighed out because
God is just. Is anything wrong with that?”
Mona el-Naggar contributed reporting.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
FREEDOM
OF RELIGION OR BELIEF
Excerpts: From full report: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108481.htm
1. Egypt – Religious
Demography
The country has an
area of 370,308 square miles and a population of 79 million, of whom almost 90 percent
are Sunni Muslims. Shi'a Muslims constitute less than 1 percent of the
population. Estimates of the percentage of Christians ranged from 8 to 12
percent, (6 to 10 million), the majority of whom belonged to the Coptic
Orthodox Church. The country's Jewish community numbers 200, mostly senior
citizens.
Other Christian
communities include the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic (Armenian, Chaldean,
Greek, Melkite, Roman, and Syrian Catholic), Maronite, and Orthodox (Greek and
Syrian) churches which range in size from several thousand to hundreds of
thousands. An evangelical Protestant community, established in the middle of
the 19th century, included 16 Protestant denominations (Presbyterian, Episcopal
(Anglican), Baptist, Brethren, Open Brethren, Revival of Holiness (Nahdat
al-Qadaasa), Faith (Al-Eyman), Church of God, Christian Model Church
(Al-Mithaal Al-Masihi), Apostolic, Grace (An-Ni'ma), Pentecostal, Apostolic
Grace, Church of Christ, Gospel Missionary (Al-Kiraaza bil Ingil), and the
Message Church of Holland (Ar-Risaala)). There are also followers of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church, which was granted legal status in the 1960s.
There are 800 to 1200 Jehovah's Witnesses and small numbers of Mormons but the
Government does not recognize either group. The number of Baha'is is estimated
at 2,000 persons.
2. Egypt – Legal/Policy
Framework
The Constitution,
under Article 46, provides for freedom of belief and the practice of religious
rites; however, the Government restricts these rights in practice. Islam is the
official state religion, and Shari'a is the primary source of legislation.
The Government does
not recognize conversions of Muslims to Christianity or other religions, and
resistance to such conversions by local officials--through refusal to legally
recognize conversions--constitutes a prohibition in practice. January 2008
rulings by the Cairo Administrative Court stated that freedom to convert does
not extend to Muslim citizens. This was under appeal at the end of the
reporting period. It also ruled that constitutional guarantees of freedom of
religion do not apply to Baha'is. Conversion is not illegal under civil law,
but, in practice the Government does not recognize conversions of Muslim-born
citizens to other religions. However, in January 2008 the Supreme
Administrative Court ruled that the Ministry of Interior (MOI) must issue
identity documents indicating the conversion back to Christianity of some
Christian-born converts to Islam.
While there is no
legal ban on proselytizing Muslims, the Government restricts such efforts.
Neither the Constitution nor the Civil and Penal Codes prohibit proselytizing,
but police have harassed those accused of proselytizing on charges of
ridiculing or insulting heavenly religions or inciting sectarian strife.
3. Egypt – Restrictions
on Religious Freedom
On May 31, 2008,
police located within 1 mile of the Abu Fana Monastery in Upper Egypt
reportedly took 3 hours to respond to a request for help when a monk's cell at
the monastery was under attack. The armed assault resulted in the death of one
Muslim Bedouin villager, multiple injuries, including gunshot wounds, to monks,
the kidnapping and abuse of several monks, and looting and damages estimated at
more than 1,000,000 Egyptian pounds. Three monks abducted from the monastery
were reportedly rescued by security services (see Societal Abuses and
Discrimination).
On January 29, 2008,
the Cairo Administrative Court, a court of first impression, ruled that the
administrative agency of the Civil Status Department was not bound to examine
the request of Muhammad Ahmad Abduh Higazy to have his new religion,
Christianity, recorded on his national identity card as so doing would conflict
with public order. In its ruling, the court wrote that Muslims are forbidden
from converting away from Islam based on principles of Islamic law, and because
such conversion would constitute a disparagement of the official state religion
and an enticement for other Muslims to convert. The court asserted its duty to
protect public order from the crime of apostasy from Islam and to protect
public morals, especially if the apostate petitions the administration to
condone his misdeed and his corrupt caprice. In August 2007 Mohamed Ahmed
Higazy and his wife Zeinab had publicly announced that they had converted to
Christianity and wished to be legally recognized as such. The ruling maintained
a government policy not to provide a legal means for converts from Islam to
Christianity to amend their civil records to reflect their new religious
status. Higazy's attorney appealed the case in March 2008, and it remained
under appeal at the end of the reporting period.
The Government
continued to deny civil documents, including identity cards, birth
certificates, and marriage licenses, to members of the Baha'i community.
However, on January 29, 2008, the Cairo Administrative Court ruled that the MOI
must issue identification documents to Baha'is, with the religious affiliation
space filled with a dash. While the ruling was not applied to other Baha'is,
members of the Baha'i community reported anecdotally that the ruling was
assisting them in obtaining some civil documents (see Introduction and
Legal/Policy Framework).
4. Egypt – Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Although Christians and
Muslims share a common culture and live as neighbors throughout the country,
violent sectarian attacks on Copts continued to occur during the reporting
period, as they have in previous years.
On May 31, 2008, in
the province of al-Minya, a large group of Muslim Bedouins with automatic
firearms assaulted monks and laborers on land bordering the Abu Fana Monastery,
which monks were been cultivating. In the attack one Muslim died, three to
seven Christians were wounded, and several monks were abducted and abused.
Ownership of the agricultural lands is disputed. Al Jazeera quoted an eye
witness who stated that some of the 60 to 70 assailants destroyed an outer wall
that was under construction, while others destroyed property and set fire to a
monk's chapel, which reportedly burned Bibles, altars, and Christian symbols.
Multiple reports, including a June 20, 2008 statement by the Holy Synod
Committees of the Coptic Orthodox Church, asserted that three monks were taken
hostage and tortured, beaten, and told to spit on the cross, and that the
kidnappers attempted to force them to convert to Islam upon pain of death
before being rescued by local police. Coptic Pope Shenouda III stated,
"This is the first time they kidnap and torture monks. The issue is becoming
critical," according to Sawt al-Muhajir.
Pope Shenouda stated that the attack indicated an "absence of
security." The provincial governor publicly pledged to the Pope that he
would take action to calm sectarian tensions in his province and assured him
the stolen items, valued at $188,000, would be returned. No charges against
perpetrators were filed, although at the end of the reporting period, 13 of the
attackers remained in custody. Two monks were reportedly detained for 2 days.
There was also an attack on the monks in January 2008.
On February 9, 2008,
Muslim citizens set fire to Christian-owned shops in the village of Armant in
Upper Egypt after reports surfaced of a love affair between a Muslim woman and
a Coptic Christian man. Security forces deployed in the town closed shops under
a security decree and detained eight Muslims and one Copt, all of whom were
subsequently released.
5. Egypt – U.S.
Government Policy
Religious freedom is
an important part of the bilateral dialogue. The right of religious freedom has
been raised with senior government officials by all levels of the U.S.
Government, including by visiting members of Congress, the Secretary of State,
the Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, the Ambassador, and other
State Department and embassy officials.
The Embassy maintains
formal contacts with the Office of Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. The Embassy also regularly discusses religious freedom matters with
other government officials, including governors and members of Parliament. The
Ambassador has made public statements supporting religious freedom, interfaith
understanding, and efforts toward harmony and equality among citizens of all
religious groups. Specifically, the Embassy and other State Department officials
raised concerns with the Government about ongoing discrimination faced by
Christians in building and maintaining church properties despite Decree 291 of
2005, official discrimination against Baha'is, and the Government's treatment
of Muslim citizens who wish to convert.
Source: US State Department 2008 International
Religious Freedom Report;
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108481.htm
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.
Documents Attached:
Hints of Pluralism Begin to Appear in Egyptian Religious Debates
Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief Adopted Without Consensus
______________________________________________________________________________________________
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.”
Genuine dialogue on human
rights and freedom of religion or belief calls for respectful discourse,
discussion of taboos and clarity by persons of diverse beliefs. Inclusive
dialogue includes people of theistic, non-theistic and
atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief.
The warning signs are clear, unless there is genuine dialogue ranging from
religious fundamentalism to secular dogmatism; conflicts in the future will
probably be even more deadly.
In 1968 the UN deferred
work on an International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Religious Intolerance because of its complexity and sensitivity. Violence,
suffering and discrimination based on religion or belief in many parts of the
world is greater than ever. It is time for
a UN Working Group to draft what they deferred in 1968, a comprehensive core
international human rights treaty-a United Nations Convention on Freedom of
Religion or Belief. United
Nations History – Freedom of Religion or Belief
The challenge to
religions or beliefs at all levels is awareness, understanding
and acceptance of international human rights standards on freedom of
religion or belief. Leaders, teachers and followers of all religions or
beliefs, with governments, are keys to test the viability of inclusive and
genuine dialogue in response to the UN Secretary General’s urgent call for
constructive and committed dialogue.
The Tandem Project title,
Separation of Religion or Belief and State (SOROBAS), reflects the far-reaching scope of UN
General Comment 22 on Article 18, International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, Human Rights Committee (CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.4). The General Comment on
Article 18 is a guide to international human rights law for peaceful
cooperation, respectful competition and resolution of conflicts:
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/9a30112c27d1167cc12563ed004d8f15?Opendocument
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.
The Tandem Project is a non-governmental organization (NGO)
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 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 is a UN NGO in
Special Consultative Status with the
Economic and Social Council of
the United Nations