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Survey Letter

OBJECTIVES

Evaluate the effectiveness of international law on freedom of religion or belief at international, national and local levels to promote diversity, tolerance, cooperation, respectful competition and prevention of discrimination and conflicts based on religion or belief

Measure the awareness, understanding, acceptance, at international, national and local levels, of international human rights standards on freedom of religion or belief. .  

Assess if people of theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief are included for genuine dialogue with respectful discourse, discussion of taboos and clarity by persons of diverse beliefs. 

Collect national and local data to strengthen a call for an International Convention on Freedom of Religion or Belief, a core religious-philosophical foundation for human rights ethics based on international law and deferred since 1968 by the United Nations.

INFORMATION

The Questionnaire on Human Rights & Freedom of Religion or Belief is sent to organizations as a follow-up to the Universal Periodic Review.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process launched by the UN Human Rights to review the human rights obligations and responsibilities of all UN Member States by 2011. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/BasicFacts.aspx

History: United Nations History – Freedom of Religion or Belief.

The Questionnaire on Human Rights & Freedom of Religion or Beliefmeasures the value of the 1981 UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief:  http://www.tandemproject.com/program/81_dec.htm

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

 Internet Course on the 1981 UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief:  http://www.tandemproject.com/toc/toc.htm

Inter-active Country & Community Database on Articles of the 1981 UN Declaration:
http://www.tandemproject.com/databases/forms/card.htm

Rules for Respectful Dialogue: http://www.tandemproject.com/toc/toc.htm

Wikipedia on Taboo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taboo

Links: USA - Universal Periodic Review & Freedom of Religion or Belief
USA - UPR Prep Recommendations; SR Visit to United States of America

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

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.  

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, at the first Alliance of Civilizations Madrid Forum; “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.”

In 1968 the UN deferred work on an International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance because of the sensitivity and complexity of reconciling a human rights treaty with dissonant worldviews and voices on religion or belief. Instead, in 1981 the United Nations adopted a non-binding Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief in support of Article 18:  http://www.tandemproject.com/program/81_dec.htm.

Separation of Religion or Belief and State reflects the far-reaching scope of UN General Comment 22 on Article 18, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1993, UN Human Rights Committee. 
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/9a30112c27d1167cc12563ed004d8f15?Opendocument

Inclusive and genuine dialogue on human rights and freedom of religion or belief are between people of theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief. It calls for open dialogue on: awareness, understanding, acceptance; cooperation, competition, conflict; respectful discourse, discussion of taboos and clarity by persons of diverse beliefs.
 
Human rights protect freedom of religion or belief; religion or belief does not always protect human rights. In this respect human rights trump religion to protect individuals against all forms of discrimination on grounds of religion or belief by the State, institutions, groups of persons and persons. After forty years suffering, violence and conflict based on belief has increased in many parts of the world.  UN options are to try to gradually reduce such intolerance and discrimination or call for a new paradigm deferred since 1968.

It is time for the UN to draft a legally binding International Convention on Freedom of Religion or Belief: United Nations History – Freedom of Religion or Belief.

Freedom of Religion or Belief in tandem with Universal Human Rights