Is Europe Joining the International Religious Freedom Bandwagon?

Growing international threats to religious freedom are coming under increasing scrutiny by Western democracies. Long a foreign policy emphasis in the United States, and more recently in Canada, the crisis in international religious freedom (IRF) is gaining greater attention in Europe, especially in Italy and the United Kingdom. Can these nations be effective in promoting international religious freedom? Will their own domestic struggles with religious freedom handicap their efforts abroad?

Pasquale Annicchino, a fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute and at the University of Salerno, discussed recent developments in IRF promotion by Italy and the EU. David Reeves Taylor, chairman of Christian Solidarity Worldwide and a former British diplomat, addressed recent developments in IRF promotion by the UK. The Religious Freedom Project's Thomas Farr moderated.

Featuring

Pasquale Annicchino is a research fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, a fellow in constitutional law and comparative constitutional law at the Department of Political Science of the University of Salerno, and a member of the European University Institute’s Ethics Committee. Annicchino serves as book review editor for Religion and Human Rights: An International Journal and is a member of the editorial board of Quaderni di Diritto e Politica Ecclesiastica, published by Il Mulino. He has written on law, religion and religious freedom in Europe, and is a member of the ReligioWest project. This project studies how different Western states in Europe and North America are redefining their relationship to religions, under the challenge of increasing religious activism in the public sphere, associated with new religious movements and with Islam. Annicchino received his doctorate in law from the University of Siena, his LL.M/D.E.A. from the European Academy of Legal Theory in Brussels, and an LL.M from University College London, where he also served as editor in chief of the UCL Human Rights Review.

David Taylor is an international affairs analyst with a particular focus on the Middle East. He spent 17 years in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, most of it focused on the Middle East and North Africa. He then spent 14 years as Middle East editor and deputy editor of the Daily Brief at Oxford Analytica. He now divides his time between editorial work for Oxford Analytica, the Lausanne Movement and other clients, and working with Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), the Religious Liberty Partnership and other NGOs on international religious freedom issues.

Source: The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University.

EU Guidelines on freedom of religion or belief (2013)

The Council of the European Union adopted in 24 June 2013 a set of Guidelines in the area of human rights of paramount importance: EU Guidelines on the promotion and protection of freedom of religion or belief (FORB). It is a part of the set of nine other guidelines the EU has on the death penalty, torture, children in armed conflict, human rights defenders, rights of the child, violence against women, promotion of international humanitarian law, human rights dialogues with third countries and LGBTI rights.

In the EU Guidelines on the promotion and protection of freedom of religion or belief (FORB), the EU reiterates the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief as a fundamental right of every human being. The EU Guidelines underlines the right of all persons to manifest their religion or belief either individually or in community with others - persons who change or leave their religion or belief, as well as persons holding non-theistic or atheistic beliefs should be equally protected, as well as people who do not profess any religion or belief.

In line with universal and European human rights standards, the EU and its Member States are committed to respecting, protecting and promoting freedom of religion or belief within their borders. With these Guidelines, the EU also reaffirms its determination to promote in its external human rights policy, freedom of religion or belief as a right to be exercised by everyone everywhere. The Guidelines explain what the international human rights standards on FORB are and they give clear political lines to officials of EU institutions and EU Member States. They also provide officials with practical guidance on how to seek to prevent violations of FORB in order to promote and protect freedom of religion or belief in the EU's external action. EU missions (EU Delegations and Member States Embassies and Consulates) play a key role in an early warning system, they will monitor respect for freedom of religion or belief and identify and report on situations of concern in third countries. The EU will raise freedom of religion or belief in appropriate high-level contacts and will encourage partner countries and regional organisations in political dialogues to accede to and implement relevant international instruments. The EU is furthermore committed to ensure that FORB remains prominently on the UN agenda and it will further strengthen its cooperation with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on FORB.

Background

When the EU launched the Common Foreign and Security Policy ten years ago, it placed Human Rights at the heart of this policy. This stemmed from our conviction that respecting and promoting the rule of law as well as fundamental rights and freedoms not only defines the EU but is also in our interest. The European Security Strategy, adopted in 2003 and reviewed in 2008, states clearly that “spreading good governance, supporting social and political reform, dealing with corruption and abuse of power, establishing the rule of law and protecting human rights are the best means of strengthening the international order." An integral part of our Human Rights Policy is a series of Guidelines on issues of importance to the Union. These Guidelines are practical tools to help EU representations in the field better advance our policy.

Read the Guidelines here.

Source: EU Delegation to the UN and other international organisations in Geneva.