Freedom of Religion or Belief – UN Human Rights 75 Pledge by Atheist Ireland

Atheist Ireland has made a pledge to the United Nations Human Rights 75 initiative to promote the consistent use of the full phrase ‘Freedom of Religion or Belief’ instead of the incomplete phrase ‘Freedom of Religion.’

1. Background to Atheist Ireland

Atheist Ireland is a voluntary advocacy group based in Ireland. We have Special Consultative Status at the United Nations. We promote atheism, reason, and ethical secularism by political lobbying and human rights interventions. We also work with atheist and secular advocacy groups in other countries.

When promoting secularism, we explicitly say that we would be as opposed to the state promoting atheism as we are to the state promoting religion. We campaign on secular issues in alliance with the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland.

We have previously made submissions to, and have participated in, UN Human Rights sessions about Ireland under the UPR, ICCPR, ICESCR, CERD, CEDAW, and Rights of the Child, as well as to the Council of Europe and the OSCE.

When the UN was questioning Pakistan under the ICCPR in 2017, we made a joint submission and sent a joint delegation to Geneva, from Atheist Ireland, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland, and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland.

2. Our Pledge

Atheist Ireland pledges to always use the full phrase ‘freedom of religion or belief’, and not to simply use the incomplete phrase ‘freedom of religion’. The ‘belief’ aspect of this phrase refers to nonreligious philosophical convictions worthy of respect in a democratic society. This includes but is not limited to atheism as a positive belief and not merely the absence of a religious belief.

We also pledge to lobby for all United Nations bodies, conference sessions, policies, documents, member states, equality and other laws, civil society organisations, media outlets, and other relevant stakeholders and events to always use the full phrase ‘freedom of religion or belief’ and not to simply use the incomplete phrase ‘freedom of religion’.

In the Venice Commission Guidelines for Legislative Reviews of Laws Affecting Religion or Belief, it states that:

“3. International standards do not speak of religion in an isolated sense, but of “religion or belief.” The “belief” aspect typically pertains to deeply held conscientious beliefs that are fundamental about the human condition and the world. Thus atheism and agnosticism, for example, are generally held to be equally entitled to protection to religious beliefs.

It is very common for legislation not to protect adequately (or to not refer at all) to rights of non-believers. Although not all beliefs are entitled to equal protection, legislation should be reviewed for discrimination against non-believers.”

This nuance is recognised at UN level but is not always carried through in practice. As one example, the title of resolution 76/157 of 16 December 2021 acknowledges that the characteristic to be protected is unjust behaviour against persons based on ‘religion or belief’. However, the paragraphs within the resolution do not follow through consistently on the purpose described in the title.

• The resolution includes only 29 references to ‘religion or belief’ but includes 46 references to ‘religion’ or ‘religious’ alone.
• This imbalance is even stronger in paragraphs 7 and 8, which are the paragraphs calling for States to take specific actions.
• These action-focused paragraphs refer only twice to ‘religion or belief’ but refer twelve times to ‘religion’ or ‘religious’ alone.

In order to remove discrimination based on ‘religion or belief’ from within this resolution, it should be amended to always use the full phrase ‘religion or belief’ and not to simply use the words ‘religion’ or ‘religious’ alone. The same applies all relevant resolutions, policies, laws, and documents.

3. The importance of the full phrase ‘religion or belief’ at UN level

The Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted in 1948 as a common international standard for achieving human rights. Article 18 states:

“18. 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.”

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is one of the legally binding Treaties that builds on the UDHR. Article 18 states:

“18.1 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.

ICCPR General Comment No. 22 on Article 18 states:

“1. The freedom of thought and the freedom of conscience are protected equally with the freedom of religion and belief… this provision cannot be derogated from, even in time of public emergency.

2. Article 18 protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief. The terms belief and religion are to be broadly construed… The Committee therefore views with concern any tendency to discriminate against any religion or belief for any reasons…”

In Leirvåg and others v Norway in 2004, the United Nations Human Rights Committee considered a complaint under the ICCPR from parents with a non-religious humanist life stance. The parents did not wish to see their daughter participate in CKREE classes, where textbooks are in conflict with their life stance. The Human Rights Committee concluded:

“14.2 The scope of article 18 covers not only protection of traditional religions, but also philosophies of life, such as those held by the authors.

15. The Human Rights Committee, acting under article 5, paragraph 4, of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is of the view that the facts before it disclose a violation of article 18, paragraph 4, of the Covenant.”

The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief includes:

“1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have a religion or whatever belief of his choice…

2.1 No one shall be subject to discrimination by any State, institution, group of persons, or person on the grounds of religion or belief…

3. Discrimination between human beings on the grounds of religion or belief constitutes an affront to human dignity and a disavowal of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and shall be condemned as a violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and enunciated in detail in the International Covenants on Human Rights, and as an obstacle to friendly and peaceful relations between nations.

4.1 All States shall take effective measures to prevent and eliminate discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief in the recognition, exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms in all fields of civil, economic, political, social and cultural life.”

Conclusion

These matters are replicated at the Council of Europe, European Court, Venice Commission, European Union and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Atheist Ireland has published an analysis of this at
https://atheist.ie/wordpress/2021/03/the-human-right-to-be-atheist-and-secular/

Atheist Ireland pledges to always use the full phrase ‘freedom of religion or belief’, and not to simply use the incomplete phrase ‘freedom of religion’. The ‘belief’ aspect of this phrase refers to nonreligious philosophical convictions worthy of respect in a democratic society. This includes but is not limited to atheism as a positive belief and not merely the absence of a religious belief.

We also pledge to lobby for all United Nations bodies, conference sessions, policies, documents, member states, equality and other laws, civil society organisations, media outlets, and other relevant stakeholders and events to always use the full phrase ‘freedom of religion or belief’ and not to simply use the incomplete phrase ‘freedom of religion’.