Ambassador of Togo visits Adventist World Headquarters

On Tuesday, August 17, 2004, the Ambassador of the Republic of Togo to the United States of America, His Excellency Akoussoulelou Bodjona, and his Advisor, Joseph Sala, visited the General Conference headquarters.

The Ambassador met President Jan Paulsen who thanked the government of Togo for the climate of tolerance and religious freedom and the help given to the organizers of the Youth Camporee in Lomé.

A special luncheon in honor of Ambassador Bodjona followed the meeting with President Paulsen. In his speech at the luncheon, His Excellency shared that he was a young man when the Adventists dedicated their first church building in Lomé. He mentioned the important work of the church in helping the people of Togo and his pleasure in visiting the world church headquarters.

Adventist Representative Leads Debate on Religion Laws

Brussels, Belgium… The contentious issues raised by religion laws in Europe headed debate at an inter-parliamentary conference held in Brussels, Belgium on August 6, 2004.

Seventh-day Adventist Church representative Dr. Jonathan Gallagher both moderated discussion and made a presentation regarding the serious concerns over new restrictions being imposed on religious minorities in Europe.

“Our concern is that as more nations in Europe and further east adopt religion laws that increasingly restrict the ability of religious minorities to operate, freedom of belief is being compromised and violated,” said Gallagher. “Religion laws are frequently counterproductive, and may be used in some cases as a form of control and repression.”

As an example, Gallagher cited the proposed law on religion currently under discussion in Serbia and Montenegro. “While no worse, or better than many other such laws, the discriminatory impact of this law illustrates the impact of trying to legislate in religious affairs. Sadly this legislation, if passed, would make some beliefs officially recognized, with funding from the state, while others would be termed ‘religious associations’ with much fewer rights. Religion laws need to be open, transparent, and non-discriminatory.”

The inequalities that result from such laws, and the potential for discrimination based on religion, were excellent reasons not to pass such legislation, Gallagher added.

Joseph K. Grieboski, president of the Institute for Religion and Public Policy and sponsor of the inter-parliamentary conference, commented, “It’s most important to have religious and registration laws on the agenda for this inter-parliamentary conference because those responsible for considering, drafting, and passing such legislation are here. This is an opportunity for us to dialogue together and act so we can take the first steps to prevent negative laws, shift current negative laws, and promote positive laws on religious registration laws.”

Also speaking during the plenary session were Prof. Ringolds Balodis, head of the department of Constitutional Law at the University of Latvia, and Prof. Cole Durham, director of the International Center for Law and Religious Studies at Brigham Young University.

The 2004 Inter-parliamentary Conference on Human Rights and Religious Freedom ran August 5-7, 2004 and included over 20 parliamentary delegations from such countries as Angola, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Italy, Jordan, Korea, Morocco, Portugal, Slovakia, and Turkey.

The Institute on Religion and Public Policy, Inc., was founded as a think tank and advocacy organization to study and understand the relationship of religion, ethics, and morality to public policy, government, culture and politics in both the international and domestic arenas.

UN Human Rights Body Hears Adventist Testimony on Religious Freedom Violations

Geneva, Switzerland... The United Nations body dealing with human rights heard testimony on August 2 from the Seventh-day Adventist Church on religious freedom violations.

The UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights at its annual meeting heard that "as an international faith community representing some 25 million people in 205 countries, the Seventh-day Adventist Church stands for the prevention of discrimination and protection of minorities, in particular religious."

In a prepared statement read by Juan Perla, volunteer assistant working for the Adventist UN Liaison office, Adventists cited the "beating and harassment of members of minority religions, forcible conversions, the burning of places of worship, stigmatism and discrimination in society and employment."

"We believe it is essential to raise such terrible violations of religious freedom at the highest possible levels," comments Jonathan Gallagher, official representative of the Adventist Church to the UN, present at the Sub-Commission. "Through our presence at these meetings, we can heighten awareness of such situations and hopefully put much needed pressure for action to stop the violence against religious minorities. Most of all we want states to observe the right to change one's religion without facing death threats or exile."

Participation at the Sub-Commission also provides the opportunity for direct contact with member states and high-level representatives of many organizations, says Gallagher. "Just as important as making public statements is the possibility of speaking one-on-one with ambassadors and diplomats about sensitive situations that can be resolved through such quiet diplomacy."

The 56th session of the U.N. Sub-Commission opened on July 26 and will end August 13, 2004. Established in 1947, its mandate is to undertake studies and make recommendations to the Commission concerning the prevention of discrimination of any kind relating to human rights and fundamental freedoms.