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THE TANDEM PROJECT The Tandem Project is a UN NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Separation of Religion or Belief and State ISSUES & CHALLENGES Anders Behring Breivik is the ethnic Norwegian perpetrator of the most horrific acts of terrorism in Norway since WW II. In an opinion page article in the New York Times, 31 July 2011, by Thomas Hegghammer, Senior Research Fellow of the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment, Breivik is quoted as saying he is “extremely proud of his Odinistic/Norse heritage and while he is Christian admits ‘I’m not a very religious person.’ “While Breivik’s violent acts are exceptional, his anti-Islamic views are not. His goal is to reverse what he views as the Islamization of Western Europe.” Anders Behring Breivik was declared sane and convicted on Friday August 25, 2012 by a Norwegian court of killing 77 people, and sentenced to the maximum sentence of 21 years in prison under Norwegian law which no longer has the death penalty and considers prison more a means for rehabilitation than retribution. According to the New York Times, “Breivik was given ample time to speak of his rambling anti-Muslim, anti-multicultural political views, including a rant about the ‘deconstruction of Norway at the hands of cultural Marxists.” Bjorn Magnus Ihler, who survived the Utoya shootings, was quoted as saying that “Norway’s treatment of Mr. Breivik was a sign of a fundamentally civilized nation.” Norway can move forward now turning grief and loss into something positive, action programs to show how assimilation with multiculturalism, rehabilitation rather than retribution, works in Norway. The Tandem Project was the catalyst for the 1998 Oslo Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief that led to the formation of the Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief. The conference celebrated the fifty year anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Honorable Kjell-Magne Bondevik, then Prime Minister of Norway, gave the keynote address. 1998 UN Conference Report Assimilation’s Failure, Terrorism’s Rise The Tandem Project a non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 1986 to build understanding, tolerance, and respect for diversity of religion or belief, and to prevent discrimination in matters relating to freedom of religion or belief. The Tandem Project has sponsored multiple conferences, curricula, reference material and programs on Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights- Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion – and the 1981 United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. Documents Attached: NORWAY - Universal Periodic Review & Freedom of Religion or Belief; Your View; University of Oslo Forum - Human Rights & Freedom of Religion or Belief |