The Tandem Project evolved when, in 1984, Michael M. Roan its founder represented the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) at a U.N. Seminar on the Encouragement of Understanding, Tolerance and Respect in Matters Relating to Freedom of Religion or Belief (UN.Doc.A/40/361) in Geneva, Switzerland. Building on this spirit, The Tandem Project was launched in 1985, as a 501 C.3 non-profit corporation registered with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and Minnesota Charities Division under Minnesota Statute.ch.309.

The Mission of The Tandem Project is: To promote, sponsor and support implementation of Article 18 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the 1981 U.N. Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. The Tandem Project has acted as a change agent sponsoring multiple international conferences addressing these two human rights instruments and mechanisms. The Tandem Project served on the Steering Committee for the 1998 Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief in Oslo, Norway, and Preparatory Committee for the 2001 U.N. International Consultative Conference on School Education in Relation to Freedom of Religion or Belief in Madrid, Spain, and International Planning Committee for the 2004 Olso Global Meeting of Experts in Oslo, Norway.

The Tandem Project has been supportive of the mandates of U.N. Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Vidal d’Almeida Riberio of Portugal, and Abdelfattah Amor of Tunisia. The work of The Tandem Project has been complimented in several reports to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights including (E/ CN.4/1999/58).

In 1989, The Tandem Project founded the Nobel Peace Prize Forum with the Norwegian Nobel Institute and five Norwegian-American colleges in the Upper Midwest region of the United States. The Nobel Peace Prize Forum, held annually on a rotating basis among five colleges, attracts Nobel Peace Prize laureates, academics, distinguished international diplomats and peace activists for plenary sessions and weekend workshops with students, faculty and the general public. The Tandem Project, as a founder, served as Coordinator of the annual event for the first five years of this now fifteen year old symposium.

The Tandem Project has partnered with several academic institutions in the publication of books and reports on international freedom of religion or belief. In 1993, a grant from the Pew Foundation enabled publication of Freedom of Religion and Belief: A World Report, with the University of Essex, Colchester, England. In 1996, The Tandem Project authored The Role of Secular Non-Governmental Organizations in the Cultivation and Understanding of Religious Human Rights, a chapter in the two-volume Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective, by Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.

In 2003, The Tandem Project launched the Women’s United Nations Report Network (WUNRN). WUNRN is a global multi-sector coalition in support of the United Nations Study on Freedom of Religion or Belief and the Status of Women from the Viewpoint of Religion and Traditions (E/CN.4/2002/73/add.2). This Study by U.N. Special Rapporteur Abdelfattah Amor is a major, universal, comprehensive approach to intolerance and discrimination against women based on religion and traditions. WUNRN and The Tandem Project, http://www.wunrn.com, are committed to supporting the dignity and fundamental rights of women and girls everywhere.