Religion and human rights

Cluster Responsible: Dr. Eva Maria Lassen, senior researcher, the Danish Institute for Human Rights

In 2012 the Council of EU released its EU Strategic Framework and Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy. Here the EU made a commitment  to strengthen its policy on the world wide promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief, and to develop public EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion or Belief.

The EU stands not alone in its emphasis on freedom of religion or belief as an essential part of the promotion of human rights and democracy in the beginning of the 21^st century.  Moreover, in today’s world, the development of human rights takes place within both religious and secular contexts. The international community, policy-makers,  national human rights institutions, NGO’s as well as human rights scholars have come to regard religions as potential allies in the endeavour to implement human rights universally. Representatives of the world religions, for their part, in increasing number see human rights as a concept which not only they are obliged to form an opinion on, but which may also play an integrated role in the continuous development of their religions. The relationship between religion and human rights is complex and contains great conflicts as well as promising potentials. The cluster will illuminate this complexity, discussing past and present challenging as well as future scenarios and possibilities.

The cluster will start with a sketch of the changing role of religion in the international human rights discourses from 1945 to the present day, followed by an introduction to religious freedom in international law as will as  existing instruments and documents related to EU’s external policies on Freedom of Religion or Belief. The cluster will then continue with three intertwined components:

Balancing religious freedom with other(s’) human rights

The question about the extent to which the State has an obligation to interfere and limit religious freedom to safeguard other human rights and the rights of others is highly debated, and interlinked with the question about the state’s protection of religious freedom. These questions are debated from different angles, depending on, for instance, the degree of separation between the State and the religious sphere.  In the cluster, we will bring out examples from State intervention in religious practices in Europe and compared these with other state models in different legal systems. EU’s external policies on Freedom of Religion or Belief  will also be discussed.

Gender, religion and human rights

Gender holds an exciting - and sometimes extremely controversial - place in the discourse about the relationship between human rights and religion, bringing into play, on the one hand, the question of balancing religious freedom with other human rights, and, on the other hand, the respect of cultural and religious traditions balanced against the promotion of international human rights standards. A number of religious norms concerning gender, for instance divorce, personal status, and inheritance and property rights appear problematic in the context of the prohibition of discrimination on account of gender, as put forward in international human rights law. The cluster will discuss these challenges as well as the possible solutions to the gaps between religion and human rights standards on gender.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Whilst the relationship between human rights and religion will be discussed at a universal level, including all religions, a particular focus will be on the three monotheistic religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam.   In the cluster, the overlapping consensus between human rights principles and religious norms, as are apparent vis-à-vis the three religions ( not least the notion of human dignity)  as well as discrepancies will be studied as will the phenomenon of both  inter-religious dialogues on human rights.

The cluster sessions will include a visit to the Jewish ghetto of Venice.

Programme Religion and Human Rights: