The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Asma Jahangir, has stated that the 25th anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief (the 1981 Declaration) should be an occasion to highlight the importance of freedom of religion or belief. She has encouraged governments and non-governmental organizations to take advantage of this anniversary to organize events that will promote freedom of religion or belief and challenge rising trends of religious intolerance.

The UK Baha’i community has recently launched a series of three parliamentary seminars on freedom of thought, conscience and religion (as Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights puts it) as part of its contribution towards marking this anniversary. A new website has just been launched to give more information about this initiative. As yet the website is basic, but it will include more information as time goes on.

The seminar themes are taken from the Bah?’? International Community’s Freedom to Believe statement, which gives a concise summary of the Bah?’? position on freedom of religion and belief as central to human development. Well worth a read.

Technorati Tags: UN, Freedom of Religion or Belief, religion, Baha’i, Human Rights, human development

Tuesday 1 August, 2006 This is an interesting and thoughtful op-ed piece from today’s Jerusalem Post online. Well worth reading.