A proposed international declaration and convention on the elimination of all forms of religious intolerance was presented here today to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The draft, originally submitted to the Commission by its Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities, was hammered out in 13 meetings by a 15-member working group of the full commission.
The declaration and convention would guarantee to “every group or community the right to manifest their religion or belief in public or in private without being subjected to any discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief.” The draft makes it clear that these rights include certain aspects of freedom of religion now denied to the Jews in the Soviet Union–but neither the USSR nor any other country is named.
The guarantees would include “freedom to worship, to assemble and to establish and maintain places of worship or assembly; freedom to teach, to disseminate and to learn their religion or belief, and also its sacred languages or traditions; freedom to practice their religion or belief by establishing and maintaining charitable and educational institutions, and by expressing the implications of religion or belief in public life; freedom to observe the rites or customs of their religion or belief.”
RIGHT TO APPEAL TO NATIONAL COURTS AGAINST DISCRIMINATIONS
After stating the general principle that “everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion,” and asserting that discrimination between human beings on religious grounds “is an offense to human dignity and shall be condemned,” the draft would forbid any state to discriminate against any individual or group exercise “and enjoyment” of these human rights and fundamental freedoms. The draft would also give persons or groups discriminated against on religious grounds the right to appeal to national courts against such violations.
All states would be ordered by the convention to “take effective measures to prevent and eliminate discrimination based on religion or belief” and especially to prevent discrimination in the fields of civil rights and citizenship due to religious beliefs. The convention would assert that parents or legal guardians have the right to decide on the religion or belief in which a child should be brought up.
The Human Rights Commission, which has been in session here for more than three weeks, is still discussing the first major item on its lengthy agenda. That issue concerns a United Nations convention on the elimination of racial–as distinct from religious–intolerance. Since the commission is scheduled to conclude its session at the end of this week, there is doubt whether the 21-member body will find time to debate the religious freedom draft in detail.
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