Abstract
Since its establishment in 1946, pursuant to article 68 of the United Nations Charter, the Commission on Human Rights has been actively involved in efforts to define, promote, and protect freedom of religion or belief as one of the most basic human rights and fundamental freedoms. In terms of standard setting and implementation, three stages can be distinguished in the Commission’s work.
The present chapter was completed in March 2000.
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References
The Functioning of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Netherlands Advisory Council on International Affairs, report no. 11, The Hague, September 1999, 6; emphasis added.
See Commission on Human Rights, Provisional Agenda, 20 March-29 April 2000, UN Doc. E/CN.4/ 2000/1, 56th Sess. (2000).
These figures pertain to the 1998 session of the Commission, see UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/109.
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Provisional Agenda, UN Doc. E/ CN.4/2000/1, 56th Sess., annex (1999).
See also Theo van Boven, “Religious Freedom in International Perspective; Existing and Future StanÂdards,” Des Menschen Recht zwischen Freiheit under Verantwortung, Festschrift fur Karl Josef Partsch, ed. J¨´rgen Jekewitz et al. (Berlin: Duncker and Humblot, 1989), 103–13.
UN ga Resolution 2144 a (xxi) 26 October 1966; ECOSOC Resolution 1235 (xlii) 6 June 1967.
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Civil and Political Rights, Including Religious Intolerance, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/58, 55th Sess. (1999), 119–21.
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief UN Doc. E/CN.4/RES/1999/39 (1999), 9.
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief E/CN.4/ 1998/6, 54th sess. (1998), para. 22.
UN Economic and Social Council, C
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Civil and Political Rights, Including Religious Intolerance, E/CN.4/1999/58, 55th sess. (1999), 124.
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1998/6, 54th Sess. (1998), 97–120; UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Civil and Political Rights, Including Religious Intolerance, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/58, 55th Sess. (1999), 115–27.
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, UN Doc. E/ CN.4/1998/6, 54th Sess. (1998), 114.
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief UN Doc. E/CN.4/1998/6, 54th Sess. (1998); UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Civil and Political Rights, Including Religious Intolerance, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/58, 55th Sess. (1999).
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Civil and Political Rights, Including Religious Intolerance, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/58, 55th Sess. (1999), 24–25.
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, UN Doc. E/ CN.4/1998/6, 54th Sess. (1998), 50.
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Civil and Political Rights, IncludÂing Religious Intolerance, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/58, 55th Sess., (1999), paras. 104–11.
Ibid., 111.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/58, para. 21.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2000/65, para. 118.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/58, para. 18.
UN Doc. E/CN.4/2000/65, paras. 120–72.
Ibid., paras. 178–81.
UN Economic and Social Council, Implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief UN Doc. E/CN.4/RES/1999/39 (1999), 8.
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1998/6, 54th Sess. (1998), 104–5; UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Civil and Political Rights, Including Religious Intolerance, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/ 58, 54th Sess. (1999), 122.
Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2000/33, 20 April 2000, para. 11 (2000).
Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2000/33, 20 April 2000, para. 11 (2000).
See the very informative analytical reports of the UN Commission on Human Rights and of other UN Human Rights bodies contained in issues of Human Rights Monitor, published by the International Service for Human Rights, Geneva (Adrien Claude Zoller, editor-in-chief).
Resolution 1998/18, adopted in 1998, was co-sponsored by forty-six states and joined by eleven more states as co-sponsors, and Resolution 1999/39, adopted in 1999, was co-sponsored by fifty-one states and subsequently co-sponsored by ten more states.
The resolution, adopted in 1998, was less complimentary and simply “took note” of the report (Resolution 1998/18, para. 1). UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief UN Doc./CN.4/RES/1998/18 (1998), 1.
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief UN Doc. E/CN.4/RES/1999/39 (1999), 10.
See for instance the report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to the UN General Assembly, UN Doc. A/51/18, 51st Sess., para. 230, where the Committee expressed special conÂcern over the issue of religious discrimination in connection with anti-Muslim sentiment and stated that discrimination against Muslims may be closely related to questions of race and ethnicity.
Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to the UN General Assembly, UN Doc. 1 /51/18, 51st Sess., para. 3; UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Civil and Political Rights, Including Religious Intolerance, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2000/65 (2000), 56th Sess., 108.
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Summary Record of the 61st Meeting, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/SR.61, 55th Sess. (1999), 1.
Ibid., 3.
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief UN Doc. E/ CN.4/1996/95/Add.l, 52nd Sess. (1996), 82.
It must be reminded that the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief is, as yet, not followed up by a convention on the same subject, as was originally envisaged by the UN GA in Resolution 1781 (XVII).
For a detailed analysis of the 1981 Declaration, see Donna J. Sullivan, “Advancing the Freedom of Religion or Belief through the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Religious Intolerance and Discrimination,” American Journal of International Law 82 (1988): 487–520.
Tore Lindholm, W. Cole Durham, Jr., Bahia G. Tahzib-Lie (eds.), Facilitating Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Deskbook 173–188. © 2004 Koninklijke Brill NV. Printed in the Netherlands.
See text to note 31 above, paragraph 11 of Resolution 1999/39 of the Commission on Human Rights.
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Civil and Political Rights, IncludÂing Religious Intolerance, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/58, 55th Sess. (1999), 118–22.
UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Report by the Working Group on Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Mechanisms of the Commission on Human Rights, 16 February 2000, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2000/112, 56th Sess., para. 30 (2000).
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van Boven, T. (2004). The United Nations Commission on Human Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief. In: Lindholm, T., Durham, W.C., Tahzib-Lie, B.G., Sewell, E.A., Larsen, L. (eds) Facilitating Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Deskbook. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-5616-7_7
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