31/10/2018 Australia's Efforts to Promote and Protect Freedom of Religion and Belief – Parliament of Australia

Home Parliamentary Business Committees Joint Committees Completed Inquiries

Australia's Efforts to Promote and Protect Freedom of Religion and Belief

Australia's Efforts to Promote and

Protect Freedom of Religion and Belief
Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade

Australia's Efforts to Promote and Protect Freedom of

Religion and Belief

Issues paper

Freedom of Religion and Belief: Issues Arising

The respect for humanity and sense of ethics that underpin human rights are often said
to derive from religious belief. Certainly, the major religions of the world emphasise our
common humanity and the dignity and equality of individuals. While respect for fellow
human beingsthe foundation of toleranceis a principle of the world's major religions,
and most states proclaim their respect for religious differences, there is evidence of
persistent and increasing religious intolerance. This appears to coincide with increasing
religious revival.

In the United States there have been formal responses to concerns about violations of
religious freedom around the world: the Secretary of State has established an Office of
International Religious Freedom in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor,
and an Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad.1 Complementing this, the US
International Religious Freedom Act provides for a variety of formal responses by the
President to abuses of religious freedom in other countries (including economic
sanctions but not affecting the provision of food, medicine, and humanitarian aid). In
addition, from 1999, the Department of State will publish country reports evaluating
religious freedom around the world.2

Protection of the freedom

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While there is strong evidence of intolerance directed towards some people who hold
particular religious beliefs (occasionally by those who claim a superior religious belief),
the universal and fundamental nature of the right to freedom of religion and belief is
clear. Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right
includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in
community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in
teaching, practice, worship and observance.

This protection is supported by article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and

Political Rights (ICCPR), which came into force in 1976. Article 18 of the ICCPR provides:

1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This
right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice,
and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or
private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and
teaching.
2. No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to
adopt a religion or belief of his choice.
3. Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs may be subject only to such
limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety,
order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.
4. The States parties to the present Covenant undertake to have respect for the
liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal guardians to ensure the religious and
moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.

Detailed guidelines for protecting of freedom of religion and belief are provided in the
1981 resolution of the UN General Assembly: the Declaration on the Elimination of all
Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination based on Religion or Belief.3 This
declaration prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion or belief and requires states
to take measures to prevent and eliminate such discrimination.4 While there is no
provision to monitor implementation, scrutiny of religious intolerance by the UN is
carried out through special rapporteurs.

Extent of the freedom

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It will be necessary to consider not just the protective framework offered at

international law, but more precisely what it is that is protected. The UN Human Rights
Committee has considered the extent of the freedom referred to in Article 18 of the
ICCPR:

The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (which includes the freedom
to hold beliefs) in article 18(1) is far-reaching and profound; it encompasses freedom
of thoughts on all matters, personal conviction and the commitment to religion or
beliefs, whether manifested individually or in community with others. ... Article 18
protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess
any religion or belief.5

Australia's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission recently reported on

freedom of religion and belief in Australia.6 While HREOC's focus was on Australia, as
opposed to this Committee's focus beyond Australia, the report is helpful in many
respects for the Committee's inquiry. The meaning of 'religion and belief' in a proposed
Religious Freedom Act was the basis of one recommendation by HREOC. The
recommendation stated, among other things:

Religion or belief should be defined as a particular collection of ideas and/or

practices
that relate to the nature and place of humanity in the universe and, where
applicable, the relation of humanity to things supernatural
that encourage or require adherents to observe particular standards or codes of
conduct or, where applicable, to participate in specific practices having
supernatural significance
that are held by an identifiable group regardless of how loosely knit and varying in
belief and practice
that are seen by adherents as constituting a religion or system of belief.

The definition should not apply to all beliefs but only to those that clearly involve
issues of personal conviction, conscience or faith. This definition would not cover
beliefs which are caused by mental illness or which are motivated by criminal intent.7

Sources of intolerance

Despite almost universal acceptance of the legitimacy of freedom of religion and belief,
abuses of this freedom are also almost universal. The underlying reasons for such
abuses vary. They may not be simply the products of extremism or inappropriately

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fervent belief. A group's religious affiliation may also signify its place in a particular
political or ethnic group so that the hostile behaviour it experiences (or offers) may
have a more complex background than religious intolerance. For instance, foreign and
immigrant groups which bring new religions to a state or community may be targeted
as much for their challenge to the status quo as for their religion. Legislation that is
directed ostensibly towards protecting a community from cults may provide an
opportunity to bolster state control of religion and to harass individuals and groups for
their beliefs rather than any illegal acts.

Religious intolerance can be used and manipulated to mask cultural and political
tensions and it may be manifested in a multitude of ways. Importantly, denial of
religious freedom can be the precursor of denials of other human freedoms, as it gives
rise to fear, reprisals, and instability.

Each religion has a tendency to consider that it is the sole guardian of truth and is
duty bound to behave accordingly What is more, each religion may be tempted to
fight against whatever it defines as deviant either within its own faith or at its
boundaries Moreover, crimes committed under the mantle of religious
freedomespecially those perpetrated by or ascribed to groups bedecked with
religiosityinevitably provoke extreme reactions, resulting in greater intolerance and
discrimination towards anything which does not belong to the established order.8

Nature of intolerance

Abuses may range from subtle bureaucratic interference and restrictions (for example,
registration requirements) to more direct and violent persecution. They may be against
religion or in the name of religion and may be found around the world. The US
Department of State's most recent human rights report9 contains many such examples.
Similarly, the UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance has published reports of
widespread and varying levels of violations.10 After analysing communications
regarding intolerance from the perspective of the 1981 Declaration, the Special
Rapporteur described seven categories of violation:

1. Violations of the principle of non-discrimination in matters of religion and

beliefthe characteristics of which are policies, laws and regulations, discriminatory
practices and acts against certain communities (regarding religion and belief) and
against women, based on interpretations of religion and traditions supposedly
based on religion or belief

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2. Violations of the principle of tolerance in matters of religion and beliefsuch as

policies, practices and acts of religious intolerance on the part of the State and
Society in matters relating to religion and belief, the most marked manifestations
being connected with religious extremism
3. Violations of freedom of thought, conscience and religion or beliefpolicies, laws
and regulations, practices and acts contrary to conscientious objection and to the
individual's freedom to change and to keep his or her religion and belief
4. Violations of the freedom to manifest one's religion or belief
5. Violations of the freedom to dispose of religious property
6. Violations of physical integrity and health of persons (religious figures and the
faithful) and
7. Violations affecting women.11

Violations may be committed by governments and by individuals who follow other faiths
or even a different branch of the same faith. In January 1999, an Australian Christian
missionary and his sons were murdered in India, allegedly by extremist Hindus who
claimed to be protesting forced conversions to Christianity. In Afghanistan under the
Taliban's interpretation of Islam, abuses of human rights, particularly against women,
are notorious. This treatment of women was described by the Special Rapporteur as
'tantamount to veritable apartheid against women, as women, and on the basis of
specious interpretations of Islam.'12

In 1998, some examples of violations of freedom of religion or belief were those

reported in:

Indonesia between Muslims and Christians

China against Protestants, Catholics, Tibetan Buddhists and Muslims
Sudan against Christians and animists
Egypt against Coptic Christians
Iran against Christian, Jewish and Baha'i minorities
India between Hindus and Muslims and against Christians
Vietnam against organised activities of religious organisations not sanctioned by the
state
Pakistan between Shia and Sunni, and against Ahmadi Muslims and Christians and
Russia against 'foreign' and less established religions.

Implications of intolerance and measures for improvement

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While there are reasonably extensive and current reports of the extent and nature of
religious intolerance, issues flowing from these occurrences would benefit from further
considerationa better understanding of the beginnings of religious intolerance should
enable a better understanding of ways of ending it. To this end, consideration will need
to be given to:

the implications of violations. For example, to what extent do they accompany and
encourage violations of other human rights? A government that tolerates abuse of
religious minorities may also be signalling its failure to protect general minority
rights, and restrictions on religious belief may be followed by restrictions on
expression, association and movement. Also, what can be learned from assessing the
source of violations, that is, who and what really inspire these acts; and

what practical role may there be for Australia in promoting and protecting religious
freedom? While the United States' broad-ranging style of response may not be
appropriate for a smaller nation such as Australia, other kinds of responses by the
Australian government and by non-government organisations could contribute to
respect for freedom of religion and belief. Allied to the possibilities for government
and community in fostering freedom of religion and belief are possibilities for
religious and spiritual leaders and groups to promote religious and other freedoms.
While religious differences may be instrumental in beginning some conflicts, religion
may also bring about an end to some conflictsis there a greater role for religious and
spiritual leaders to play in resolving conflict and in promoting the basic freedoms?
1.   The Advisory Committee published an Interim Report to the Secretary of State
and to the President of the United States in January 1998; access is at
http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/.
2.   Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998, Bureau of Democracy,
Human Rights and Labor, US Department of State, February 1999, p.7. See
http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1998_hrp_report/.
3.   Resolution 36/55. A copy of the Resolution follows at p.19 of this booklet.
4.   Articles 1 and 4 respectively. Article 6 contains a list of the freedoms included in
the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, for example, to
worship, to train and appoint leaders, and to teach a religion or belief.
5.   General Comment No. 22 [ICCPR Article 18], Human Rights Committee, Forty-
Eighth Session, 20July1993.
6.   Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Article 18 Freedom of religion
and belief, 1998. See http://www.hreoc.gov.au/human_rights/religion/index.html.
7.   Ibid, p. 24.

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8.    Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance of the United

Nations Commission on Human Rights, in Freedom of Religion and Belief. A World
Report, edited by Kevin Boyle and Juliet Sheen, Routledge, London and New York,
1997, p. xv.
9.   Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998, Bureau of Democracy,
Human Rights and Labor, US Department of State, February 1999.
10.   Report submitted by Mr Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur, in accordance
with Commission on Human Rights resolution 1998/18, 11 January 1999,
E/CN.4/1999/58; http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocd/
11.    Ibid, paragraphs 104-112.
12.    Ibid, paragraph 111.

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