The Tandem Project Human Rights Education Manual, How to Monitor Human Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief: Equal Rights by Separation of Belief and State, was launched in September 2004 in Oslo, Norway. The Manual is a monitoring course for Community and Country Reports on Human Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief. The Tandem Project Human Rights Education Manual uses the 1981 UN Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, as a non-sectarian civic guide to promote tolerance and prevent discrimination based on religion or belief at international, national and local levels.

It can be opened at: www.tandemproject.com.

Tensions within and between religious and non-religious beliefs are emerging threats to civil society. We need to find ways to hold our own religion or belief in tandem with the rights of others to believe as they choose, as long as discrimination is not done in the name of that religion or belief. We need to promote moral values that are inclusive rather than divisive.

International rights-based law on faith-based religion or belief is not well known. What is understood is that most religions or beliefs are universal, transcending sovereign state boundaries. Universal beliefs need universal norms to ensure protection for all diverse religious and non-religious beliefs. The Tandem Project bases its non-sectarian civic approach on United Nations approved norms, standards and recommendations such as:

• Article 18 of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) proclaims: “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest has religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.”

• The UN Human Rights Committee General Comment on Article 18 of the ICCPR states: “Article 18 protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief.”

• The UN Human Rights Committee General Comment on Article 18 further states: “the concept of morals derives from many social, philosophical and religious traditions; consequently, limitations on the freedom to manifest a religion or belief for the purpose of protecting morals must be based on principles not deriving from a single tradition.”
  
• The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a recommendation to the UN General Assembly, stated: “Value-oriented human rights education alone is insufficient. Human rights education should make reference to human rights instruments and mechanisms of protection for ensuring accountability.”

In 1967 the UN deferred work on a draft Convention on Freedom of Religion or Belief. A UN staff study stated the extreme “difficulty to legislate a Convention since it impinged upon the most intimate emotions of human beings.” Instead, after 14 years of discussion they passed a non-binding 1981 UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, an effective but incomplete instrument for monitoring human rights and freedom of religion or belief.

The Tandem Project is calling for consideration of the pros and cons of requesting the UN to reconstitute the 1967 open-ended Working Group for a draft Convention on Freedom of Religion or Belief, in light of the serious challenges and issues facing the mandate today. If the UN prefers not to reconsider a more complete and legally binding Convention on Freedom of Religion or Belief then, in the opinion of The Tandem Project, they have an obligation to consider how to implement the existing mechanism, the1981 UN Declaration adopted by the General Assembly.

The Tandem Project Manual, How to Monitor Human Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief is a paradigm that uses the 1981 UN Declaration and other UN international law and guidelines on faith-based religion or belief for community and country reports. The Manual has twelve Study Topics on how to prepare a Community or Country Assessment Report on Human Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief. It is written for civic community populations under 100,000 but can be used at international and national as well as local levels.

The Tandem Project involves a wide range of diverse religions or beliefs, governments and non-governmental organizations in an exchange of information on how best to use the 1981 UN Declaration on Freedom of Religion or Belief to assess how a community or country promotes tolerance and prevents discrimination based on religion or belief. For more information contact:

Michael M. Roan
Executive Director,
The Tandem Project
mroan@tc.umn.edu
www.tandemproject.com.