European Interreligious Forum For Religious Freedom

Press Release - Faith and Freedom Summit II

EIFRF — Tue, 23 Apr 2019 22:37:00 +0200

A New Direction for the European Union

Source: https://faithandfreedomsummit.eu/faith-and-freedom-summit-ii
(EIFRF is a member of the Faith and Freedom Summit Coalition)

A New Direction for the European Union
Religion or Belief
The EU Faith & Freedom Summit

For the second year in a row the Faith & Freedom Summit met on April 2 in the European Parliament, to forge the way forward with concerned European politicians, administrators, NGOs and individuals to ensure that the key fundamental human right of freedom of religion or belief is not left behind and reduced to a second-tier right. The well-attended Summit pointed out that right now this right given little importance within the European Union compared to other rights. The principle at stake is whether or not European countries and institutions will live up to their human rights commitments in the area of religion or belief in the same way it is insisting that countries outside the EU do.

“THE CREDIBILITY OF THE EU AND EUROPE IS AT STAKE”

One of the keynote speakers was the EU’s Special Envoy for the Promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief outside the EU, Jan Figel. He told the conference, “The credibility of the EU and Europe is at stake,”and that the EU needed to “face up” to the numerous cases of discrimination that occur against religious minorities within its own borders. He also supported the need for extending existing European instruments, such as his own office and that of the Parliament’s Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief outside the EU to having a role within the EU itself. He also supported another proposal of the organisers to use the upcoming European elections in May as a perfect opportunity to raise awareness of the threat to freedom of religion or belief.

The Faith and Freedom Summit is a coalition of 19 NGOs which have come together to promote religious tolerance, particularly within the European Union. It is a non-partisan body with no political affiliation though it has been supported by the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE) who have recognised the importance of this principle, as well as by MEPs from all over the political spectrum.

Also attending and speaking in support of the initiative were Kishan Manocha, Senior Advisor on Freedom of Religion and Belief, OSCE and Archbishop Thomas Schirrmacher, President of the International Society for Human Rights.

Bashy Quraichy, Secretary General of the European Muslim Initiative for Social Cohesion, told the conference that they are a “powerful movement against religious discrimination”and they appeal to the EU, especially the European Parliament, “to be more proactive in order to warn those countries who commit acts of oppression against religious minorities.” He added that he believes Europe needs to act in an “inclusive fashion” and not be “selective as to who to put pressure on and who not” whilst pointing out that populists and others were “spreading hatred” against Muslim communities, and noted that the number of hate crime incidents directed at Muslims had “jumped many fold…This, in turn, is breeding violence, murders and property damages.”

“GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE IN RELIGION OR BELIEF CAN BE BLATANT OR SUBTLE. IT CAN COME IN MANY FORMS FROM COVERT ADMINISTRATIVE BLOCKS, DELAYS AND DENIALS TO OVERT LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY STATEMENTS THAT IMPLEMENT UNDUE RESTRICTIONS ON RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION OR PRACTICE”

Martin Weightman, Director of the All Faiths Network, told participants that, “Government interference in religion or belief can be blatant or subtle. It can come in many forms from covert administrative blocks, delays and denials to overt legislative and policy statements that implement undue restrictions on religious expression or practice. Raising these issues within the EU institutions will not be easy but without any communication between all the relevant players – EU officials and politicians, belief groups and the wider public – then we go nowhere – or rather we go down.”

The President of the Netherlands-based NGO the Gerard Noot Foundation, Hans Noot, told reporters that the aim of the EU’s policy should be to include minority groups, saying, “This applies not just to faith groups but all minorities, including refugees and the lesbian and gay community. We should be striving for a more inclusive society but, at present, minorities like asylum seekers and refugees are demonised and portrayed as the “bad boys” if anything goes wrong.”

Mr. Eric Roux, Vice-President of the European Office of the Church of Scientology for Public Affairs and Human Rights outlined the list of initiatives that the Summit have called for implementation:

MEPs to sign a pledge supporting freedom of religion or belief
Extend the remit of the EU Special Envoy on Freedom of Religious Belief or belief outside the EU, to within the EU.
Parliamentary Intergroup to investigate and raise instances of discrimination based on religion or belief within the EU, at European Parliament.
FRA (Fundamental Rights Agency) task force to tackle the topic of discrimination.
Academics EU resources should finance a full research project carried out by academics already known and experienced in the area of discrimination based on religion or belief in the EU.
Create an open platform gathering members of the FRA, members of the EU Parliament, civil society partners, members of the EU Commission, religious stakeholders, that will be in charge of monitoring discrimination based on religion or belief issues in EU Member states.
Article 17 TFUE (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to dialogue with religions and philosophical organisations) adequately manned task force in the EU Commission to implement article 17 TFUE
Create EU guidelines to protect EU citizens against discrimination based on religion or belief that will be approved and adopted by the Council.
A Faith and Freedom Award to award MEPs and other worthy individuals that are active in promoting various aspects of freedom of religion or belief within the EU.

Other key speakers at the Summit were:

Kristina Arriaga de Bucholz (President - Oxford Society of Law and Religion and Commissioner of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom)
Willy Fautre (Director - Human Rights Without Frontiers International)
Massimo Introvigne (scholar and President of CESNUR)
Ms. Ines Mazarrasa (Directora Fundacion Pluralismo y Convivencia - Foundation Pluralism and Coexistence)
Laurentiu Rebega MEP
Alfiaz Vaiya (Coordinator - European Parliament Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup)
Marco Ventura (Professor of Law, University of Siena)
Jan Zahradil MEP (President of ACRE)

The meeting ended with attendees agreeing to work on all the above initiatives and meet on a regular basis to implement them.

ooOOoo

Contact: contact@faithandfreedomsummit.eu
www.faithandfreedomsummit.eu

Register to the Faith and Freedom Summit II

EIFRF — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 19:30:00 +0100

The Faith and Freedom Summit, a campaign for freedom of religion of belief in the EU run by a coalition of NGOs (including EIFRF), will have its second event on April 2, in the European Parliament.

The announcement includes the following:

"We strongly believe that EU citizens must enjoy a real freedom of religion or belief, at every level, and that this fundamental right is not given the importance it deserves in the EU institutions, and in the EU instruments to protect the various freedoms of EU citizens. That is what we will discuss on April 2, with you."

If you want to attend (limited seats), you need to register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/faith-and-freedom-summit-ii-registration-58735000969?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Here you can see the description of the event which will gather some very interesting speakers: https://faithandfreedomsummit.eu/faith-and-freedom-summit-ii

You should be there!

And by the way, think to sign the pledge of the Faith and Freedom Summit if not yet done, with your name and title: https://faithandfreedomsummit.eu/sign-the-pledge

“I pledge that I will uphold and defend the freedom of conscience and religion of all individuals by rejecting and speaking out against bigotry, discrimination, harassment and violence; and so build a more equitable society for all.”

The Faith and Freedom Summit has a new website

EIFRF — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 15:23:00 +0100

The Faith and Freedom Summit is not an organisation. It’s a campaign proposed and run by a large coalition of faith-based and non faith-based NGOs and supported by many EU stakeholders.

The Summit launched a pledge that all MEP candidates are asked to sign, that reads as following: "I pledge that I will uphold and defend the freedom of conscience and religion of all individuals by rejecting and speaking out against bigotry, discrimination, harassment and violence; and so build a more equitable society for all." The signature of the pledge is inter alia supported by Mr Ahmed Shaheed, current UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion or Belief (see here).

Their new website can be seen here: https://faithandfreedomsummit.eu/

EIFRF is part of the coalition of NGOs that promotes the pledge.

As it is written on the first page of the website, we, as others, are committed to freedom of religion or belief and believe that the EU should have more involvement than only tackling these issues in its external relations, as it is the case nowadays. If we want to have a legitimate influence outside of EU borders in the field of freedom of religion, we must be beyond reproach within our borders. Unfortunately, this is not the case today.

We strongly believe that EU citizens must enjoy a real freedom of religion or belief, at every level, and that this fundamental right is not given the importance it deserves in the EU institutions, and in the EU instruments to protect the various freedoms of EU citizens.

It is for these reasons that our mission is to propose and develop initiatives that will put Freedom of Religion or Belief in Europe back in the spotlights. We will see a great deal of committed stakeholders from various backgrounds (scholars, human rights fighters, religious leaders, politicians) joining in to become a real force of proposal for a better Europe, a Europe which cares about freedom.

Your organisation may want to join the coalition. Please do not hesitate to contact them to contact@faithandfreedomsummit.eu

Register to the Faith and Freedom Summit

EIFRF — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 18:15:00 +0200

The Faith and Freedom Summit: Practicing what we Preach in Europe is a non-partisan summit, which brings together leaders from the various fields of politics, government, academia, activism and the non-for-profit sector from across Europe and beyond, in order to propose and develop initiatives that will put Freedom of Religion or Belief in Europe back in the spotlights.

Top international speakers at the event include:

Jan Figel
EU Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the European Union

Salvatore Martinez
Rep of the Italian presidency at OSCE

Dr. Eli Nacht
Official Representative of International Committee of Human Rights in Israel

Marco Ventura
PROFESSOR OF LAW & RELIGION at University of Siena

Vincent Berger
Former Jurisconsult of European Court of Human Rights

Kristina Arriaga
USCIRF Commissionner and Vice-Chairwoman of the Commission

Ahmed Shaheed
Special Rapporteur on human rights to UN Human Rights Council

Sam Brownback
U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom

Thomas Schirrmacher
President of the International Society for Human Rights

And many others that you can find on the website of the Summit: http://faithandfreedomsummit.eu

You'll find also on it the address, the agenda, and everything to register to this historic event.

Event to come at EU Parliament: Religious Persecution in China

EIFRF — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 18:06:00 +0200

EIFRF will participate to this event that will take place on June 27 in the EU Parliament, organized by Human Rights Without Frontiers International

If you need access to the European Parliament, please be sure to complete your registration by 20 June, 2018.

Questions? Email: events@hrwf.org