Protecting freedom of religion or belief against the religious right | Andrew Copson

Around the world, the religious right (of all religions) is organising with renewed enthusiasm and doubling down on its efforts to erode freedom of religion or belief, re-introduce blasphemy laws, and persecute those with minority beliefs. Nowhere is this more evident than in the UN.

Last year, many of us who champion FORB and freedom of expression were deeply concerned by the passing of a long contested resolution brought forward by Pakistan at the UN on religious hatred (Humanists International, of which I am President, campaigned hard against it). Introduced in response to Quran burnings in Sweden, ‘Resolution 53/1’ equated all acts of ‘desecration of sacred books and religious symbols’ with manifestations of religious hatred. It set a dangerous precedent for language around insult and offence in relation to religion and has come to symbolise a wider global trend towards the erosion of FoRB.

Freedom vs blasphemy laws: the ongoing struggle

‘Resolution 53/1’ is significant because it has brought back into question the longstanding consensus on how to tackle religious intolerance in line with international law. By automatically equating ‘Desecration’ with ‘incitement to hatred’, it attempted to remove what’s vital for assessing whether a particular expression breaks with international convention: context. In doing so, it gives support to blanket bans like anti-blasphemy or religious defamation laws and the mass censorship and silencing of legitimate expression and dissent targeting people from minority religions or beliefs. It’s no coincidence that Resolution 53/1 was brought forward by Pakistan, a country with a longstanding history promoting global blasphemy laws. Only in 2018 did former Pakistan PM Imran Khan vow to revive this campaign, promising to take the issue to the UN.

Upholding freedom and tolerance

The previous hard-won UN consensus on these matters, which has been in place since 2011 and which Humanists International’s work with democratic states did much to bring about, focused on tackling religious hate and intolerance in line with international law. Attempts to overturn this consensus are part of a dangerous trend towards curtailing freedoms and imposing draconian laws under the guise of protecting religious sentiments.

Global unity against religious oppression: a call for vigilance

The international community must stand firm against such measures and governments, civil society organisations, and individuals unite to uphold the principles of freedom, tolerance, and respect for diversity. This includes actively campaigning against resolutions that seek to blur the lines between incitement to hatred on the one hand and legitimate expressions of dissent on the other. It also means remaining vigilant to the religious right’s attempts to weaponise sensitivities around what constitutes religious hatred. Only then can the genuinely vulnerable voices – those of minority beliefs and dissenters – be protected.