How to Monitor Human Rights & Freedom of Religion or Belief is a resource manual for those who wish to explore in-depth ways to promote tolerance and prevent discrimination based on religion or belief in a community. Teachers or instructors teaching tolerance, understanding and respect between people of diverse religions or beliefs may use it as a reference work, facilitators of interfaith dialogue, or secular human rights organizations may use it for the same purpose, others who wish to write their own reports on freedom of religion or belief, similar to NGO shadow reports written for the U.N. Committee on Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), may use it to look for ideas, still others may wish to follow this study guideline for the 1981 U.N. Declaration, write a community report on human rights and freedom of religion or belief, and submit it to the U.N. in Geneva. For those following the latter path, here are steps to take to prepare a Community Report on Human Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief.

• Study Topics

The heart of the manual is the study topic. There is a study topic on how to use the two simulated database models designed for the manual, a study topic on how to identify types of constitutional principles that relate to religion or belief, and twelve study topics, one for each of the 12 paragraphs of the 1981 U.N. Declaration. The topics for the 1981 U.N. Declaration are broken down into an in-depth examination of each article and paragraph by a set of terms and measures and how they apply in your community.

• Articles and Paragraphs

The 1981 U.N. Declaration has eight articles. There is a brief introduction on the meaning of the article. There are study topics for each paragraph of an article. This follows the intent of the manual to use the Declaration as a paradigm to guide thinking by ordering information, helping understand causal relationships, distinguishing what is important from unimportant, and showing a path to achieve solutions to problems of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief in a community.

• Terms and Measures

Each study topic is divided into terms and measures. Rene Descartes, a rationalist, broke a complex problem down into its simplest parts and found solutions by rearranging them in new ideas. John Locke learned by experience, observation and comment on a problem. Studying the 1981 U.N. Declaration is a combination of rational and empirical learning. The 12 paragraphs of the Declaration are broken down into 48 component parts called

terms for study. A term can be a word, a series of words, a phrase or a complete sentence within a paragraph. Terms relate to each other either as opposing reciprocal principles, as complimentary thoughts that are more comprehensive if bundled together, or as complete sentences defining a specific right in the U.N. approach to human rights and freedom of religion or belief. Terms are defined as measures because each component can be placed in a database for statistical comparison and other forms of research.

• Related Examples

Each study topic includes a section called Related Examples. These include public reports by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, or news media, on how a term is used in other places. While not always exact or complete illustrations of the topic or term, they are close enough for a comparison in the community being studied.

• Learning Experiences

Each study topic includes a section called Learning Experiences. These are suggestions for resources and where to research in the community being studied. For teachers and facilitators, Learning Experiences at times refer to lessons in a companion book, Lifting the Spirit: Human Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief, published by the University of Minnesota Human Rights Center and The Tandem Project.

• Topic Notes

Each Study Topic ends with a section called Topic Notes. It asks a series of questions on how the topic applies in the community being studied. Information from the topic notes are edited and transferred to the Community Information Database.

• Model Databases

There are two model databases designed for the 1981 U.N. Declaration as research tools for community and global resources, and consolidation of information from the topic notes. They are paper-based now but can be built into a website and linked by the Internet for research and to monitors worldwide to exchange resources and compare information. For this purpose, articles are identified by one digit, paragraphs by two digits and terms by three digits.

• Community Report

The purpose of this manual is to prepare a Community Report on Human Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief. Part III: The Community Report has a guideline of its own on ways to assimilate the material into a reader-friendly report to the U.N. in Geneva.

STEPS TO WRITE A COMMUNITY REPORT

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4