 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(August 2017) |
The International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief (IPPFoRB) is a network of parliamentarians from around the world committed to combating religious persecution and advancing freedom of religion or belief, as defined by Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [1]
IPPFoRB was established on 8 November 2014 with the signing of the Oslo Charter for Freedom of Religion or Belief at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo. [2]
The first steering committee of the IPPFoRB was composed of Baroness Elizabeth Berridge (UK House of Lords), David Anderson (House of Commons of Canada), Abid Raja (Parliament of Norway), Aykan Erdemir (Grand National Assembly of Turkey), Leonardo Quintao (National Congress of Brazil).
In September 2015, IPPFoRB convened [3] 100 parliamentarians from 50 countries in New York, alongside the United Nations General Assembly, and issued the New York Resolution for Freedom of Religion or Belief to "enhance global cooperation by working across geographical, political, and religious lines." [4] At the New York meeting, IPPFoRB founder Aykan Erdemir stated that this global network is "idea for which the time is right," adding that people advocating rights should be as "outspoken, organised and transnational" as the violent extremists. [5]
In September 2016, IPPFoRB assembled 100 parliamentarians from 60 countries in Berlin with the attendance of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. [6]
Since its inception, IPPFoRB parliamentarians have written advocacy letters to heads of state of Burma, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, and Vietnam. [7]
IPPFoRB steering committee members have received awards in recognition of their efforts: Aykan Erdemir was awarded the Stefanus Prize by the Stefanus Alliance International in 2015 [8] while Baroness Elizabeth Berridge is the recipient of the 2017 International Religious Liberty Award of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies [9] and Abid Raja was named the 2018 recipient of the International Religious Liberty Association's International Award for Outstanding Leadership in Religious Freedom Advocacy. [10]
Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom to change one's religion or beliefs, "the right not to profess any religion or belief" or "not to practise a religion".
Freedom of thought is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints.
Abid Qayyum Raja is a Norwegian lawyer and Liberal Party politician who served as Minister of Culture from 2020 to 2021. He was elected to the Storting as representative for Akershus in 2013 where he served as second deputy chair of the Standing Committee on Transport and Communications and also is a member of the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs. In October 2017, Raja was elected as the vice-president of the Storting, the second time in Norway's history that a Muslim has been elected to that office.
Freedom of religion in Algeria is regulated by the Algerian Constitution, which declares Islam to be the state religion but also declares that "freedom of creed and opinion is inviolable" ; it prohibits discrimination, Article 29 states "All citizens are equal before the law. No discrimination shall prevail because of birth, race, sex, opinion or any other personal or social condition or circumstance". In practice, the government generally respects this, with some limited exceptions. The government follows a de facto policy of tolerance by allowing, in limited instances, the conduct of religious services by non-Muslim faiths in the capital which are open to the public. The small Christian and tiny Jewish populations generally practice their faiths without government interference, although there have been several instances where the Algerian government has closed non-Muslim places of worship, most recently from 2017-2019 during which time eighteen Christian churches have been forcibly shut down. The law does not recognize marriages between Muslim women and non-Muslim men; it does however recognise marriages between Muslim men and non-Muslim women. By law, children follow the religion of their fathers, even if they are born abroad and are citizens of their (non-Muslim) country of birth.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom and works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs, persecuted for other religious belief or persecuted for lack of belief. Its current president is Jonathan Aitken, who succeeded Baroness Cox in 2006.
Humanists International is an international non-governmental organisation championing secularism and human rights, motivated by secular humanist values. Founded in Amsterdam in 1952, it is an umbrella organisation made up of more than 160 secular humanist, atheist, rationalist, skeptic, freethought and Ethical Culture organisations from over 80 countries.
Freedom of religion in Sri Lanka is a protected right under Chapter II, Article 9 of the constitution of Sri Lanka. This applies to all religions, though Buddhism is given the foremost place under the 1978 Republican Constitution. Sri Lanka is regarded by its Supreme Court as being a secular state.
The International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA) is a non-sectarian and non-political organization promoting religious freedom. It was originally organized by the Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders in 1893 to campaign for religious freedom for all when the danger of restrictions from blue laws became apparent. Its headquarters are in Silver Spring, Maryland in the United States.
The Rev. Timothy A. Peters, an American humanitarian aid worker living in Seoul, South Korea, operates Helping Hands Korea and is widely regarded as one of the world's most visible advocates for human rights in North Korea.
Stefanus Alliance International (SAINT) is a religious freedom and human rights organization with historical roots in Christian missions work, dedicated to defending freedom of belief and religion as expressed in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The organization is based in Oslo, Norway. Its motto, designated in 1996, is: "Together for the persecuted."
The International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS), part of the J. Reuben Clark Law School (JRCLS) at Brigham Young University (BYU), was formally founded on January 1, 2000, to promote freedom of religion worldwide and to study the relations between governments and religious organizations. The ICLRS strives to be a global academic leader in the field of international religious freedom. The ICLRS was built upon the work of law professor Cole Durham, who was named its founding director. Brett Scharffs has been the ICLRS director since May 2016.
Bjørn Agnar Wegge is a former Norwegian NGO Director. Degree from University of Oslo: Cand. Philol.
W. Cole Durham Jr. is an American educator. He is Susa Young Gates University Professor of Law and Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS) at Brigham Young University's (BYU) J. Reuben Clark Law School (JRCLS). He is an internationally active specialist in religious freedom law, involved in comparative law scholarship, with a special emphasis on comparative constitutional law. In January 2009, the First Freedom Center granted him the International First Freedom Award, in Richmond, Virginia.
Atta-Ur-Rehman Chishti is a British-Pakistani Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gillingham and Rainham since the 2010 general election. He was the United Kingdom's Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief from 12 September 2019 until his resignation on 14 September 2020. He was the Vice Chair of the Conservative Party for Communities, appointed in the 2018 cabinet reshuffle. Chisthi also served as the Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Pakistan.
Elizabeth Rose Berridge, Baroness Berridge is a British Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords.
The Stefanus Prize is a human rights prize awarded to individuals for their outstanding contributions to defending freedom of religion or belief as defined by the Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief is a United Nations resolution, passed with consensus on November 25 1981. The "freedom of thought, conscience, and religion" was first outlined in article 18 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The resolution further elaborates human rights regarding the freedom of religion. The declaration on human rights outlines religious freedoms, and the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination asserts the "right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or whatever belief." The declaration was adopted by consensus 19 years after a request was made of the Economic and Social counsel to prepare a declaration addressing religious intolerance.
Shwe Maung is a Rohingya rights activist in Myanmar and politician who served as a member of parliament in the House of Representatives for Buthidaung constituency from 2011 to 2016.
Mine Yıldırım is a scholar of human rights law and Turkey's leading expert on international protection of religious freedom. She is the founder of the Freedom of Belief Initiative, established in 2011 as the first permanent Turkish human rights organization specializing in freedom of religion or belief. Yildirim has also served as a consultant for Turkey's Education Reform Initiative on compulsory religious education in light of Turkey's human rights obligations. Her academic and policy work covers different facets of religious freedom, including conscientious objection to military service, accommodation of faith in workplaces, and restitution of religious minority properties.
Aykan Erdemir is an anthropologist, policy analyst, and former Turkish politician. He served in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey between 2011 and 2015 as a representative from the pro-secular Republican People's Party. As an outspoken advocate of freedom of religion or belief, separation of mosque and state, and minority rights in the Middle East and beyond, Erdemir has been a leading voice against radical Islam and violent extremism, and a vocal critic of the persecution of religious minorities in the Middle East.