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Using Data to Combat Religious Persecution: The Freedom of Thought Report
Tijdschriftbijdrage - Tijdschriftartikel
Korte inhoud:As in recent years the interest in and development of tools measuring and monitoring religious freedom has been on the rise, so has a tool been developed to examine the freedom of thought for the nonreligious and those people affiliated to religions occupying positions on the periphery. Since 2012, the NGO Humanists International publishes the Freedom of Thought Report. This annual report, also available as an online tool, the report looks at how non-religious individuals – not to be confused for the non-affiliated, more commonly described as nones in the academic literature – are treated within any given state. Its focus is on the legal discrimination of and restrictions on freedom of thought, belief and expression.
This report, which has been presented both at the General Assembly of the United Nations and at the European Parliament in the framework of Article 17, ranks close to 200 countries by assessing them against a range of boundary conditions. Each of these conditions are statements linked to one of four thematic strands, namely “constitution and government”; “education and children’s rights”; “family, community, society and religious courts” and “tribunals freedom of expression, advocacy of humanist values.” The ranking is finalised by placing every boundary condition at a given level of severity.
As this special issue focuses on the impact of religious freedom research on academia, on policy and on vulnerable religious groups, our case-study contributes to the latter two. Firstly, we will evaluate the usefulness of this report concerning policymaking initiatives promoting religious freedom and freedom of thought. At the 2018 launch of the report, Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief stated that: “The Freedom of Thought Report has become an invaluable source of well-researched and important information for policymakers.” We thus include some examples of its usage for policymaking initiatives, both on a European and a worldwide level.
Secondly, we consider the impact of this report on vulnerable religious groups. As this dataset examines, for example, the whether or not criminalisation of apostasy and blasphemy in any given country, subsequent human rights activism by Humanists International and other organisations benefits the non-religious and the religious occupying positions on the periphery alike. The Reports’ impact on other human rights organisations and their campaigns allow us to propose an answer to the question of how religious freedom research can increase the resilience of religious or non-religious groups to persecution.
This report, which has been presented both at the General Assembly of the United Nations and at the European Parliament in the framework of Article 17, ranks close to 200 countries by assessing them against a range of boundary conditions. Each of these conditions are statements linked to one of four thematic strands, namely “constitution and government”; “education and children’s rights”; “family, community, society and religious courts” and “tribunals freedom of expression, advocacy of humanist values.” The ranking is finalised by placing every boundary condition at a given level of severity.
As this special issue focuses on the impact of religious freedom research on academia, on policy and on vulnerable religious groups, our case-study contributes to the latter two. Firstly, we will evaluate the usefulness of this report concerning policymaking initiatives promoting religious freedom and freedom of thought. At the 2018 launch of the report, Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief stated that: “The Freedom of Thought Report has become an invaluable source of well-researched and important information for policymakers.” We thus include some examples of its usage for policymaking initiatives, both on a European and a worldwide level.
Secondly, we consider the impact of this report on vulnerable religious groups. As this dataset examines, for example, the whether or not criminalisation of apostasy and blasphemy in any given country, subsequent human rights activism by Humanists International and other organisations benefits the non-religious and the religious occupying positions on the periphery alike. The Reports’ impact on other human rights organisations and their campaigns allow us to propose an answer to the question of how religious freedom research can increase the resilience of religious or non-religious groups to persecution.
Gepubliceerd in: International Journal for Religious Freedom
ISSN: 2070-5484
Issue: 1-2
Volume: 12
Pagina's: 45-54
Jaar van publicatie:2021
Trefwoorden:Freedom of religion, nonreligion, humanism, FoRB, vrijheid van religie
Toegankelijkheid:Open
Reviewstatus:Peerreview