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Dr. Gerhard Sabathil Director for Strategy, Coordination and Analysis Directorate General RELEX ‐ L EUROPEAN COMMISSION Speech notes The Protection of “Freedom of Religion and Belief” in EU External Action The today´s start of the Bishops´ Synod in Rome on Christianity in the Middle‐East is an excellent coincidence for our discussion! Introduction · The EU's human rights policy encompasses freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief, which is enshrined in various international human rights instruments. · Since the 1980s Presidents of the European Commission have maintained a dialogue about European integration between Churches, Religions, Communities of conviction and representatives of philosophical non‐confessional associations and the European Commission. · Former EP President Hans‐Gert Pöttering continues to play an important part in promoting inter‐faith dialogue, also in his capacity President of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. · The EP has adopted various resolutions on freedom of religion, e.g. on the “Recent attacks on Christian communities” in Egypt and Malaysia of 21 January 2010 and on “Religious Freedom in Pakistan” of 20 May 2010 and its former President and new Chairman of the Konrad‐Adenauer‐Foundation continues to play an outstanding role in interfaith dialogue · The Council Conclusions) underlined the strategic importance of freedom of religion or belief and of countering religious intolerance, and reaffirmed its intention to continue to give priority to the issues as part of the EU’s human rights policy. · In its latest Human Rights Report the EU has explicitly dedicated a chapter to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. EU Tools and Instruments · The EU has a wide range of tools to implement the human rights dimension of its external policy, including freedom of religion, among them more than 30 human rights dialogues with third countries, eight human rights guidelines, regular declarations and field work in its missions and operations. Based on an ongoing evaluation of existing initiatives, the EU is considering further practical measures to fight religious intolerance and to promote freedom of religion or belief worldwide. Let´s not forget, without claiming or defending reciprocity, that Muslims are much better off in Europe than Christians in many non‐Christian countries, even many Muslims are in better situation in Europe than at home, and discrimination of foreign workers – mainly from Asia – is between the worst in richer Arab countries. ·
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Freedom of religion is raised bilaterally with a broad range of countries at different levels. The EU voices its concerns regarding religious freedom and related intolerance and discrimination via demarches and public statements. The ENP Action Plans contain commitments on various human rights and democracy issues, including on freedom of expression, assembly as well as of religion or belief. Measures against all forms of discrimination are also a key priority. Specific human rights and democracy subcommittees have been established with ENP partners to discuss progress made in this field (e.g. with Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon; in the case of Egypt the human rights and democracy issues are covered by the political matters subcommittee). The EC issues annually progress reports on the implementation of the Action Plans. Overall, while accession to human rights and fundamental freedoms conventions and protocols has improved in the ENP region, their implementation raises concerns. In the case of Turkey, the EU has requested to step up the pace of reforms, to ensure that Turkey fully meets the 'Copenhagen criteria'. It highlighted various areas where progress is needed, including freedom of religion. The EU multilaterally takes action against intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief in particular in the UN forums and the OSCE. At the OSCE, the EU has contributed to further elaboration of commitments regarding freedom of religion or belief. It has raised its concerns at the OSCE Permanent Council when legislative proposals of several Central Asian states have not met with the OSCE standards regarding freedom of religion or belief. The EU introduced to the 63rd and 64th session of the UNGA its customary resolution on the elimination of all forms of intolerance based on religion or belief (63/181; 64/L.39), which was adopted without a vote. At the Human Rights Council, it supported the renewed mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. It is fundamental to distinguish between criticism of religion or beliefs and incitement to religious hatred. The EU believes that the concept of defamation of religion is inconsistent with human rights law. As in previous years, the EU voted against the UNGA Resolution on combating defamation of religions because of its concerns regarding the general approach, conceptual framework and terminology of the resolution. The EU is of the view that the concept of defamation of religions severely limits freedom of expression and puts in danger the very openness and tolerance that allows people of different faiths to co‐exist and practice their faiths without fear. In cooperating with the UN Alliance of Civilizations (AoC) the EU through a joint action plan seeks to work together towards the shared goal of promoting dialogue between and among cultures and civilizations, including the field of FORB. A system of focal points has been developed for communication and coordination with the Group of Friends which consists of governments and multilateral organizations which support the AoC. The system is considered by most participants as practical and effective. Meetings of EU focal points take place each EU Presidency while regular meetings of the global focal points of the Alliance take place ‐ next one is due in Berlin 25‐27 October. At a political level annual meetings of Group of Friends FMs are held at the margins of the UNGA in NY. High level gatherings also take place to launch regional initiatives – South Eastern Europe strategy at FM level at Sarajevo in December 2009 and the Strategy for Mediterranean in Malta in November 2010. I could imagine a more prominent role of the Holy See within the Alliance, similar as OIC. ·
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Central event of the AoC is its annual Forum that seeks to bring together governments, international and regional bodies, donor agencies, civil society groups, foundations and representatives from the private sector to help develop joint initiatives and promote projects aimed at improving relations among diverse cultures and communities (last one at Rio in May). Within the context of Euro‐Med use of the Anna Lindh Foundation for Dialogue between Cultures as well as its Networks‐of‐Networks is taken into consideration. FORB and the European External Action Service (EEAS) · Art. 17 of the Lisbon Treaty and the recognition by the EU that FORB is fundamental to its human rights policies is a clear signal that FORB is a central issue for the EU. Human rights are the silver thread of our external action, and this should be reflected in the EEAS structure. We will need both a strong human rights expertise and capacity in the thematic DG of the EEAS, and a network of human rights focal points across geographic directorates. More generally, EU officials should be aware of their role and responsibilities when it comes to human rights including FORB; of course, training will be essential. · The same applies to the EU Delegations, where already about 100 local human rights focal points have been identified. Their task is to monitor the human rights situation on the ground as well as to promote and implement the EU’s human rights policy, jointly together with the Member States’ diplomatic missions.

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