The pillar of human rights

“Religious freedom, Pillar of the Human Rights Policy in the External Relations of the European Union” is the title of the memorandum adopted by the COMECE bishops (the Secretariat of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community). Ensuing the EU Council Resolution (November 16 2009) which reaffirmed the intention “to continue to give priority” to the promotion and the protection of religion or belief as part of the European Union’s “human rights policy”, also the Church “wishes to make her contribution to protecting and promoting” this right “in the framework of EU external policies”. Hence the memorandum, which delved into religious persecution in the world along with the “duties” and the “obligations” of the European Union to this regard, issues a series of recommendations to the institutions in Brussels.Violations and persecutions. “The promotion of the universal right to religious freedom is based on the dignity of the human person and on natural law, on respect for basic freedoms, on love for one’s neighbour and on the quest for the truth”, the bishops state. Yet “violations of religious liberty and even religious persecution are being perpetrated against religious minorities in many countries of the world”. The document mentions the case of the Indian State of Orissa, China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea where “certain minorities, particularly Christians and/or Muslims are suffering”. The memorandum states that some 75% of all religious persecution in the world is directed against Christians, “amounting to approximately 100 million”, causing a “demographic haemorrhage” especially in the Middle East.The obligations of the European Union. “The EU and its Member States – continues the document – are under an obligation to respect, and duty-bound to promote, all basic freedoms, including religious freedom, both within the EU and throughout the world”. An obligation, the memorandum recalls, whose legal foundations are set out in the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article 10.1) (2000) which is based on Article 9.1 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950), the latter drawing upon Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). The EU institutions “have been more and more aware of this issue” with the EP Resolutions adopted on 10 May 2007 and 19 February 2009, along with the aforementioned EU Council Resolution of past November along with the recent European Parliament Resolution (21 January 2010), following the attacks against the Christian communities in Egypt and Malaysia. These “are signs of hope for those whose hearts are set on the promotion of the right to religious liberty in the world” COMECE remarks, with the wish that Brussels’ institutions “will continue along this path” with “concrete policies”.The bishops’ recommendations. COMECE asks the EU Commission, the Council and Parliament; the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the EEAS (External Action Service) to “pursue their policy of protecting and promoting basic freedoms in third-party countries where the religious freedom of religious minorities is violated” with a series of recommendations. Firstly, that “third-party countries which are in default with regard to their respect for religious freedom” be notified that religious freedom “constitutes, amongst all human rights, an essential and basic right which must be respected”; that third-party countries that have not yet signed or ratified the agreements established in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) be encouraged to do so, and that those that have proceeded with the ratification be encouraged to “guarantee its effectiveness”. The memorandum calls the Annual EU Report on Human Rights to undertake “a thorough examination of the situation of religious freedom throughout the world” and draw up “recommendations for improvement”. To give voice to the persecuted communities. COMECE also calls upon the EU institutions to support the dialogue with religious authorities and bodies engaged in inter-religious dialogue in third-party countries “with a view to encouraging respect for religious freedom and more open attitudes towards religious minorities”. For this, states the memorandum, “representatives of persecuted religious communities must be given voice”. The bishops ask that the European Parliament’s inter-parliamentary delegations to third-party countries in default in the area of religious freedom “devote part of their agenda of their working sessions to the specific issue of religious freedom”, and recommend that the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy ensure that the European External Action Service (EEAS) be provided with a “religion unit” devoted to the cause of religious freedom and to “the role of religious actors in the prevention and resolution of conflicts”. Finally, in the framework of the implementation of art.17 of the Lisbon Treaty, the memorandum recommends that the issue of the right to religious freedom be placed at the centre of all future agendas.