News March 2007

UN Special rapporteur speaks to NGOs

UN Expert Defends Importance of Combating Religious Intolerance

Geneva, Switzerland… Ending religious intolerance is "far from a reality" concludes United Nations special rapporteur Asma Jahangir in her latest report to the UN Human Rights Council. She reiterated her concerns at a special meeting with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on March 28 at the UN Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Responding to a question from Seventh-day Adventist Church representative Jonathan Gallagher, she said that her religious freedom mandate was "wide and important, and as deep as you want to go," and because of limitations on financial and human resources, she had addressed "so far only the periphery."

The whole process of independent UN experts is under review by the new UN Human Rights Council, with some states actively campaigning to end independent investigation of their own poor human rights records, while others cite financial constraints as an argument to limit the work of these UN investigators.

Jahangir referenced these issues and said that it "depends on political will, and the sincerity of member states" in making better contributions and strengthening the mandate to counter religious intolerance. She appealed to the NGO community to support her Freedom of Religion or Belief work, and to cooperate in researching and reporting abuses of religious freedom wherever they occurred.

The role of this special rapporteur derives from the 1981 UN Declaration against Religious Intolerance that received input from Adventist church representatives and is widely regarded as one of the best international documents for defending fundamental religious human rights. [PARL News]

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