Introduction

The 1981 Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief is the only international human rights document adopted by the U.N. General Assembly for a worldwide audience. As stated in the introduction, the 1981 U.N. Declaration is a non-binding treaty approved by consensus in the General Assembly. As such, it is more an international guideline than a legally-binding obligation on Member States. However, Article 1 of the 1981 U.N. Declaration repeats the treaty language in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the legally-binding commitments made by those Member States who are signatories to the ICCPR. In this way, the 1981 U.N. Declaration is linked to all human rights instruments and can be used as a international model or paradigm for community approaches to promote tolerance and prevent discrimination based on religion or belief.

Objectives:

To understand the 1981 U.N. Declaration on Freedom of Religion or Belief as a model to promote tolerance and prevent discrimination based on religion or belief, by studying the following three subjects:

Paradigms as Maps

• Paradigms as Concepts
• 1981 U.N. Declaration

1. Paradigms as Maps

A paradigm is an overall concept that explains a complex process, idea or set of data. The 1981 U.N. Declaration can be used as a paradigm to monitor the complex process of freedom of religion or belief. Monitoring the Declaration in this way requires an understanding of the overall concept and skills of inquiry and analysis to gather information and measure and compare terms and data.

Maps

Professor Samuel P. Huntington of Harvard says simplified maps are indispensable for human thought and action. An extremely detailed map is useful for other purposes than a simple abstract one. Simple maps portray both reality and simplifies reality in a way that best serves the purpose of a paradigm. Look at his map “The World of Civilizations: Post-1990” 6 Can you think of other simple maps that serves the purpose of a paradigm? Think of another example of a simple map that both portrays and simplifies the reality of a paradigm and write it on the analysis form for this subject.

2. Paradigms as Concepts

Paradigms enable a person “to order, generalize, understand relationships, distinguish what is important from unimportant, anticipate and at times predict developments, and show us a path to take to achieve a goal,” according to Samuel P. Huntington. 7

• Concepts

How is this definition, “religion or belief explains the ultimate meaning of life and how to live accordingly” the framework for a paradigm? Is the Qur’an a conceptual paradigm? Is the Golden Rule a common principle found in all religions a paradigm? Think of other conceptual paradigms using Huntington’s description of what it enables a person to do. Discuss some examples. Answer the question in the topic notes for this subject.

3. The 1981 U.N. Declaration

The 1981 U.N. Declaration is a paradigm to promote tolerance and prevent discrimination based on religion or belief in a community. Used in this way it can order, generalize, understand relationships, distinguish what is important, anticipate and at times predict developments, and provide an action path to achieve a goal. One of the strengths of the 1981 U.N. Declaration is its brevity. It has eight articles and twenty-four paragraphs. Taken together, the articles and paragraphs form an overall concept, model or holistic framework for explaining a complex process--freedom of religion or belief in a community setting.

• Paradigm Analogy

The analogy of a house in a community might be used to help picture the 1981 U.N. Declaration. The house has a framework, rooms (articles) to collect and place information, a foundation and good soil. Each room of the house collects specific kinds of information. Briefly, here are the articles that form the framework, rooms, foundation and soil of the 1981 U.N. Declaration house. How they fit together in a paradigm for freedom of religion or belief is found in the next study topic of concepts and measures.

Article 1: Legal Definition. Article 1 is the framework of a house. It repeats the legally-binding treaty definition of freedom of religion or belief found in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The other articles, in our analogy, the seven rooms of the house expand and define specific aspects of article 1, building the support needed to view the 1981 U.N. Declaration as an integrated model or paradigm for human rights and freedom of religion or belief in a community.

Article 2: Classifying Discrimination. Article 2 is the entry room where people come into the house and go to the other rooms. The article has four classifications of people; states, institutions, groups of persons and a person. They are found in all the rooms of the house promoting tolerance or allegedly committing incidents of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief.

Article 3: Link to Other Rights. Article 3 is the outside porch. It connects freedom of religion or belief to other human rights, in our analogy, to other homes in a human rights community. In most of these other homes there is a freedom of religion or belief room, which links to the 1981 U.N. Declaration in a show of support and solidarity.

Article 4: Effective Measures. Article 4 is a workshop room. Possible solutions to incidents of intolerance and discrimination are built here to prevent or repair intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief that is found in the other rooms or articles of the 1981 U.N. Declaration. The tools for building possible solutions include all fields of civic life; civil, economic, political, social, cultural and legislative measures.

Article 5: Children, Parents and the State. Article 5 is the children’s room. It is dedicated to children’s rights, rights of parents and legal guardians and legal limitations permitted by the state to protect children. It includes such things as the rights of parents to bring up children in their own religion or belief, the right of the child to education and protection against discrimination, and the right of the state to limit a religion or belief if the child’s physical or mental health is in danger.

Article 6: Nine Specific Rights. Article 6 is a room with nine cubicles. These is where all the action takes place. A community proves how tolerant or intolerant it is by what goes on in these rooms. Each room is a specific right to manifest a religion or belief including the right to: maintain places of worship, create charities, buy and use materials, write and disseminate publications, teach in suitable places, solicit and receive contributions, train and elect leaders, celebrate holidays, establish communications.

Article 7:National Legislation. Article 7 is the foundation of the house. The promotion of tolerance, understanding and respect between diverse core beliefs rests on a firewall of legal protection. If teaching tolerance, proposing action programs and possible solutions fails, this foundation protects these rights through national legislation and the rule of law.

Article 8:Existing Protection. Article 8 is the soil, the ground of the house. It is what the foundation of the 1981 U.N. Declaration house stands on; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenants known as the International Bill of Human Rights. If the foundation of the 1981 U.N. Declaration house is too weak, these international legally-binding treaties take precedence to support its rooms. The rights found in this soil can never be taken away, regardless of what happens to the house.

Draw a Freedom of Religion or Belief House

n the analysis form there are directions for drawing a house to help picture the 1981 U.N. Declaration as an overall concept paradigm. You are not trying to understand the meaning of each of these articles here. For now, try to conceptually picture the place of the 1981 U.N. Declaration in a human rights community. Draw a picture in the topic notes for this subject.

TOPIC NOTES

MODEL: THE 1981 U.N. DECLARATION

1. Paradigms as Maps

Study the map of “The World of Civilizations: Post-1990. Write a brief sentence on what this simple map means to you.

Write another example of a map that both portrays and simplifies a paradigm.

2. Paradigms as Concepts

In the Study Topic, read Samuel Huntington’s definition of a model or paradigm as an overall concept. Describe in your own words why you think the 1981 U.N. Declaration is a paradigm to promote tolerance and prevent discrimination based on religion or belief.

3. The 1981 U.N. Declaration

Picture the 1981 U.N. Declaration as a house with a framework, foundation, grounds and rooms. Place the number of the article for each part of the picture that you draw. Explain the reason for placing the number of the article on a particular part of the house below the picture.

A FREEDOM HOUSE FOR RELIGION OR BELIEF

Explain the titles for the articles below.

Article 1: Framework

Article 2:Entry Hall

Article 3: Porch

Article 4: Workshop

Article 5: Children’s Room

Article 6: Cubicle Room

Article 7: Foundation

Article 8: Ground

6 Samuel P. Huntington , The Clash of Civilizations: Remaking World Order, Simon &Schuster, Inck First Touchstone Edition (1996), map p. 26-27 back

7. Ibid, footnote 6, p. 30 back