Freedom of religion or belief
Gelegenheid:Freedom of religion or belief
Main elements of introduction by Arjan Hamburger, Ambassador for Human Rights of the Netherlands, at the Round Table of the European Platform for Religious Intolerance and Discrimination (European Parliament, Brussels, 23 January 2008).
Human rights for everyone, everywhere, at all times : that is the motto of the new Human Rights strategy recently presented by Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen to our Parliament. The strategy (of which an English translation is about to be finalised) and an action plan (currently in preparation) to elaborate the approx. 100 recommendations will be debated by Parliament later in March.
The strategy is a reflection of the central position of human rights in Dutch foreign policy, including in its development cooperation.
Two of the main guiding principles of the strategy are : the universality of human rights, and the focus on being effective. The first implies that there are basic international standards and norms (laid down in the Universal Declaration, and subsequent Conventions and Covenants): violations of these rights cannot be justified by referring to specific cultural or religious contexts. This does not deny the relevance and value of particularities, specific context and diversity, on the contrary; but it does mean that under all circumstances the international standards should be respected. The second (effectiveness) implies that we concentrate on an approach that can have the best results in terms of human rights improvements. The tool box includes for instance quiet diplomacy, more vocal diplomacy, serious dialogue, co-operation programmes, in certain circumstances harsher measures like sanctions: to be decided on a case by case basis.
The main priorities of the strategy are: abolishment of the death penalty, abolishment of torture, freedom of expression, freedom of religion and belief, improvement of the position of human rights defenders, of women, of children, of homosexuals.
Human rights and dignity for all means that it does not matter if someone is Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Humanist, or atheist. Human rights transcend the differences between religions and beliefs. No restrictions may be placed on them in the name of religion, and no religion may formulate its own human rights. It also means that every individual is free to practise his/her religion or belief, change his/her beliefs or choose not to have any religious convictions at all. Governments have a duty to protect this freedom, both in legislation and in practice. Inequality before the law, and discrimination against and persecution of religious minorities, are serious violations of the rights to which each individual is entitled.
However, respect for freedom of religion or belief is declining throughout the world. More and more countries are, for example, forcing people to wear religious symbols or prohibiting them from doing so, respect for holy places is declining, and members of religious groups are experiencing more and more problems in openly practising their religion. There is also growing intolerance: an OSCE analysis has for example shown that the number of anti-Semitic incidents has clearly increased since 2006.
The Netherlands will focus its efforts on individual freedom of religion or belief and on the protection of religious minorities. In concrete terms, the following are some of our key efforts in the short run :
- we will systematically raise the subject in our contacts with third countries
- protection of freedom of religion or belief will be a specific goal of our new Human Rights Fund
- The Netherlands will keep the subject on the UN agenda (General Assembly , Human Rights Council) and the OSCE agenda, often acting as lead country for the EU.
- as an active member of the Alliance of Civilizations we will help promote dialogue; I refer to the speech of Minister Verhagen at the recent meeting of the Alliance in Madrid.
- this year we will host the ASEM (Asia-EU) Interfaith Dialogue in Amsterdam (June 2008) and The Hague will host a meeting of religious leaders from all over the world on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration (December 2008).
Freedom of religion or belief has so many different manifestations that it can be seen as a litmus test for the general human rights situation in a given country. For example, freedom of association, freedom of expression - they are all related to and in part covered by the freedom of religion or belief.
While freedom of religion and freedom of expression are basically two sides of the same medal (fundamental human rights), there is an increasing area of tension between the two. There is an urgent need for responsible debate. In the Netherlands and elsewhere.
Following the cartoon crisis, especially the OIC-countries concentrate heavily on the protection of religion as such, instead of the protection of the fundamental rights of individual believers. This tendency is being reflected in the recent discussions (such as those in the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council) around the concept of ‘defamation of religions’. This undesirable trend can also undermine the rights of religious minorities: if defamation applies with respect to the dominant religion only, the right of minorities to manifest their religions may be severely hampered.
At the same time, there is also a tendency in the more secularist part of the world, especially in Europe, to consider freedom of religion or belief as if a thing of the past. It is sometimes argued that this freedom gives too much protection to believers as opposed to secular people. That too is a worrisome trend, since it does not recognise the special nature of religion or belief for those who profess one. After all, it determines their basic outlook on life, and therefore it is logical that international limitation grounds are more narrowly defined than in the case of other human rights. Moreover, some secularists sometimes forget that the freedom of religion or belief also encompasses the freedom not to believe and even the freedom to oppose religion.
These trends often lead to an environment in which international bodies are becoming so preoccupied with questions relating to tolerance that the more classical aspects of protection of freedom of religion or belief get far less attention than they used to. The general trend is one of less respect for these fundamental individual freedoms and rights, a trend that has to be reversed.
For us it is key that relevant organisations, in particular the European Union, the OSCE and the UN take up this matter with priority. For the EU, Riina Kionka, the Personal Representative for Human Rights, could and should be an engine. The Netherlands was against suggestions for a special EU representative for the protection of the freedom of religion or belief, on the understanding that this will be part of the overall efforts of the Personal Representative. Perhaps, this meeting today can contribute to further ideas for the EU-involvement and formulate concrete suggestions.
In the OSCE, the main challenge is to focus less on the religious ‘phobias’, important as they may be, but to strengthen the traditional role of this organisation in protecting the freedom of religion or belief, that is the rights of individuals in the OSCE-area. ODIHR’s Advisory Panel can be of help. We are in favour of holding a further special meeting on the freedom of religion.
The challenge in the UN remains to concentrate above all on the traditional resolutions in the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly in this area. I can assure you that the NL will remain an active player. It is also important that the mandate of Special UN-Rapporteur, Asma Jahangir, should remain focused on the protection of individual rights, despite recent attempts to have her concentrate her work on defamation and protection of religions.
In conclusion: there are many challenges relating to the key aspects of the freedom of religion or belief, including its relationship with the freedom of expression. Our belief is that ngo’s like EPRID, or the recently established think tank called Focus on Freedom of Religion or Belief are very necessary and have important contributions to make.