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OSCE Conference opens with call for respect of religious freedom in fight against terrorism
OSCE (17.07.2003)/ HRWF Int. (22.07.2003) - Email info@hrwf.net - Website : http://www.hrwf.net - A two-day OSCE meeting on freedom of religion or belief opened today.
"The threat of terrorism must not be used as an excuse to infringe on the right of individuals and groups to freely choose and manifest their religion or belief. At this meeting, we will look very closely at how OSCE states are implementing their commitments", said Ambassador Christian Strohal, the Director of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), which organized the meeting together with the Dutch Chairmanship of the OSCE.
"I am concerned that we may currently be witnessing a return to the past, and that the progress that has been made over the past decades in ensuring the right to freedom of religion is under threat", said Prof. Abdelfattah Amor, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief and keynote speaker at the opening, referring to what he called "emotional reactions" to the threqt of terrorism that often "have swept reason away".
"Terrorism and extremism have to be combated, but this fight must not justify just any action", he added.
In three working groups, the meeting will examine permissible limitations to freedom of religion, promoting tolerance, as well as the role of the media. The sessions will result in concrete recommendations on what the OSCE states and international organizations can do to more effectively protect their citizens' right to freedom of religion.
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The European Union, religious freedom and extremism
EU-OSCE delegation (17.07.2003)/ HRWF Int. (22.07.2003) - Email info@hrwf.net - Website : http://www.hrwf.net - On 18 July 2003, a document called "The European Union and freedom of religion/ Contribution by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia - EUMC, based in Vienna" was distributed at the request of Italy which currently chairs the EU. Here is an excerpt of it:
"() The Union is equally aware of the dangers of extremism associated with religious of belief systems and continues to work at the EU and National level to strike the appropriate balance betwee freedom and security, while guaranteeing the rights and fundamental freedoms the Union is founded upon.
The EU has recognised that in order to ensure that all its citizens irrespective of their religious background or convictions engage more fully with society, barriers to equal treatment and participation in the full range of socio-economic activities and education need to be identified, addressed and eradicated. Discrimination on the basis of religion or belief in fields such as employment and occupation is one of the specific focuses of EU action. Another priority area is the field of education.
The Member States of the Union are therefore in the process of transposing EU legislation combating discrimination based on religion or belief amongst others in employment and occupation. Religion or belief are core components of an individual's identity, the Union has set up a broad range of activities in the field of education for democratic citizenship which places the religion or belief within the framework of the Union's principles and values.
Experience from the activities undertaken by the Community has also identified that in many cases the interplay between race and religion may be factor affecting an individual's ability to fully participate in society. Strategies to address religious intolerance need to be mindful therefore of this dynamic in some cases."
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The United States and religious terrorism
US Mission to the OSCE (18.07.2003)/ HRWF Int. (22.07.2003) - Email info@hrwf.net - Website : http://www.hrwf.net - On 18 July 2003, the US Mission to the OSCE circulated a report about the permissible and non-permissible limitations to the freedom of religion and belief at the OSCE Supplementary Meeting on Freedom of Religion or Belief in Vienna. About the war against religious terrorism, the paper was saying:
"() if a government believes funds of a religious group are being miused to finance terrorism, intervention should not infringe on an individual's or group's right to worship. Rather, a State can address these problems by ensuring the religious group has legal status and is set up to receive and manage financial resources in a manner consistent with the constitutional framework and legal structures of the State. If a State has the appropriate legal controls on financial institutions, by enacting the Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) 40 recommendations on money laundering and the 8 special recommendations on terrorist financing, it should have the appropriate control mechanisms for the population in general without having to unduly monitor a specific religious organization or infringe on freedom of religion or belief.
In closing, permisible government restrictions of religious communities and religious activity are limited. Participating States are encouraged to focuq on actual internationally-recognized criminal conduct of individuals, and not their associations or statements."
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The International Helsinki Federation concerned
about restrictive policies motivated by security issues
IHF (17.07.2003)/ HRWF Int. (22.07.2003) - Email info@hrwf.net - Website : http://www.hrwf.net - On 17 July 2003, the IHF held a press conference about its report entitled "Problems of Religious Freedom and Tolerance in Selected OSCE States" which was presented at the OSCE Supplementary Meeting on Freedom of Religion or Belief in Vienna on the same day.
In the summary of this report, the IHF says: "Security concerns are increasingly used to justify restrictive policies against minority believers. Following September 11, the Uzbek government has sought to mute international criticism on its relentless campaign against independent Muslims by presenting it as an Uzbek contribution to the "war on terrorism." Under this pretext, the government has continued arbitrarily to arrest, torture and sentence independent Muslims to lengthy prison sentences, or event to death, in trials grossly violating international fair trial standards. Since the mid-1990s thousands of Muslims have been imprisoned for their convictions. Muslim prisoners are subject to notoriously harsh treatment and in numerous cases Muslims have allegedly died in custody as a result of the treatment they have suffered. In a development raising fear that the Uzbek government will expand its campaign against "religious extremism" in full-scale to non-Muslim believers, security arguments were - for the first time - explicitly used to justify the criminal prosecution of a member of a non-Muslim minority religious community in 2002.
In Russia, an anti-extremism law is so vaguely worded that it may be used to stifle legitimate activities under the guise of defending national security. In inter alia Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the security services are actively involved in monitoring the activities of minority religious communities and in Bulgaria, a government office on religious affairs was in 2002 granted broad powers to "police" the activities of such communities. Moreover, the governments in some former Soviet republics, including Armenia and Belarus, have publicly emphasized the needd to take action against "sects" considered to represent a "danger" to national security." |
