Three-Quarters of World’s Population Without Freedom of Religion

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 26 2012 (IPS) - Freedom of religion is the right to believe – but also the right not to believe, the right not to be recruited by force into a religion, and the right to change faith if desired.

This was highlighted on Wednesday at a high-level side event to the ongoing 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The event, called “Freedom of Religion or Belief: An Individual’s Choice”, was organised by the governments of Canada, the Netherlands and Senegal.

According to a new study by Pew Research Center, three-quarters of the world’s population live in countries with high restrictions on religious freedom. Restrictions include everything from discrimination and persecution of certain religious groups, to bans on public preaching.

But restrictions can also include government favoritism of one particular religion, forced recruitment into that religion, and the banning of conversion.

“Regrettably there are countries where changing one’s religions is punishable, sometimes even by death,” said Uri Rosenthal, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, at the event.

Alioune Badara Cissé, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Senegal, urged all the world’s leaders to include freedom of religion in national laws.

Paul Bhatti, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Minority Affairs, quickly pointed out that there are more ways to promote religious freedom than by legislation, and that the context varies greatly between nations.

He described the situation in Pakistan, with rising religious extremism, especially in the north. Fundamentalism comes along with poverty and illiteracy, Bhatti said. The only education a boy might be able to receive in northern Pakistan is a radical Koran school – and a girl is most likely not to go to school at all.

“Children are brainwashed,” Bhatti claimed. In that context, freedom of religion needs to be promoted in a completeley different way than in the West, he continued, mentioning poverty eradication as the most important solution.

“This can not be won… with a war,” Bhatti concluded.

Also participating in the meeting, but via video, was John Baird, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada. He revealed that the Canadian government estimates that the promotion of religious freedom is so crucial that they now plan to establish an office of religious freedom within the Department of Foreign Affairs.

“Societies that protect religious freedom are more likely to also protect fundamental rights and other freedoms,” Baird said.