UN rapporteur: Slow progress for religious freedom

RFE/RL: This week marks the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the 1981 UN Declaration on the Elimination of Intolerance and Discrimination based on Religion Or Belief, which is the only international human rights instrument exclusively focused on religion. The anniversary is being marked by different events -- such as the one in Prague -- but is there really a cause for celebration when freedom of religion is yet not a reality for many people around the world and people are persecuted for their faith?

Asma Jahangir: I believe that you're right in saying that and I have in my reports always also written and reminded people that in many parts of the world religious intolerance has been on the rise; while we have overcome certain problems of the past, new ones do appear. But at the same time I think it is important to realize that in 1981 there was actually a consensus on the declaration. I don't think you could have that consensus two decades later. So I think that declaration, that document itself is a point of celebration and we need to build on it, we need to remind ourselves that the world had committed to it and that now policy makers and decision makers have to rally people around the declaration to recognize its spirit and then begin to give effect to that declaration.

RFE/RL: What are the countries that are of concern to you in terms of freedom of religion [that] need to be reminded of the principles of the declaration?

Jahangir: To be very honest there are many countries that are of concern and they are from almost every region of the world, and the concerns are different. For example, the concern in North America is very different to, say, the southern part of the Americas -- as we call it -- where we have very little allegations of human rights violations in terms of freedom of religion. There are some issues of indigenous religions that we are beginning to look into now but at the same time it's not as grave as, I believe so far, as the other parts of the world.

RFE/RL: What are your concerns regarding the United States or what reports have you received about alleged violations of the right to freedom of religion? You and several other UN rapporteurs concluded in a report that the United States should close the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

Jahangir: In the U.S. you have seen in the past that there has been a sort of rhetoric; there have been several complaints of prisoners and with my colleagues I did write a report on the Guantanamo Bay [detention center]. Then we have allegations of how people are being discriminated against, immigration laws are changing in the world. Canada we have very few allegations but they're still there and rising after September 11. In Europe you have a different kind of problem again because of large minorities, Muslim minorities, and they have -- let me put it in this way -- emphasized their identity in the past, which is being resisted and at the same time these trends of terrorism, which have stigmatized also Muslim communities, has created a complex situation.

RFE/RL: What are your concerns regarding freedom of religion in Islamic countries?

Jahangir: In the Muslim world you have in many countries open discrimination even in laws and policies. There are countries where, for example, if one were to look at it -- and it seems unrealistic to talk about it i