ABSTRACT
Article 1 states that ‘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, 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.’ Further, no one shall be subject to coercion that would impair their freedom to have a religion or belief of their choice. Here, ‘Freedom to manifest one’s religion or belief may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.’ Article 2 states that ‘No one shall be subject to discrimination by any State, institution, group of persons, or person on the grounds of religion or other belief.’ For the purposes of the Declaration, intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief means ‘any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on religion or belief and having as its purpose or as its effect nullification or impairment of the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis’. Article 3 states that ‘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.’ Such may be regarded as ‘an obstacle to friendly and peaceful relations between nations’. Article 4 sets forth the responsibilities of States to ‘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’. Article 5 states that ‘The parents or, as the case may be, the legal guardians of the child have the right to organize the life within the family in accordance with their religion or belief and bearing in mind the moral education in which they believe the child should be brought up.’ Article 5 also contains reference to the rights of the child to have ‘access to education in the matter of religion or belief’ according to the wishes of parents or guardians. Article 6 outlines in more detail what is meant by ‘the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief’, including the following freedoms: ‘(a) To worship or assemble in connection with a religion or belief, and to establish and maintain places for these purposes; (b) To establish and maintain appropriate charitable or humanitarian institutions; (c) To make, acquire and use to an adequate extent the necessary articles and materials related to the rites or customs of a religion or belief;
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After relatively low-level explicit treatment of religion, with the 1981 Declaration the UN system began to recognise the international significance of religion for a stable world order. Thus, during the 1990s, religion emerged in numerous international statements, gaining a new and unprecedented prominence (again, see Box 8.1). This included recognition by both the 1981 Declaration and the 1998 Oslo Declaration that freedom of religion extended to the more general belief, to allow for a wider interpretation of worldviews.
