Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

eligious freedom in the light of attacks on Christians and the Ahmadiyya community.
We also pushed for freedom of religion to be included as a substantive item on the
agenda of the first EU–Indonesia Human Rights Dialogue on 29 June. We will
continue to call for religious tolerance across Indonesia and support the efforts of
those working to promote pluralism and freedom of religion.
In December at the European Council, and in response to recent attacks against
religious communities, EU foreign ministers agreed that the EU should do more to
promote religious freedom, including through assessing the implementation of the
2009 EU Council Conclusions on Freedom of Religion or Belief and the inclusion of a
specific section on religious freedom in the EU’s annual human rights report. We
welcomed this outcome and will continue to press the EU for more effective action to
tackle discrimination and violence against all religious groups.
In July, the three Personal Representatives on Tolerance and Non-Discrimination of
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office visited the UK. Their visit included meetings with a
number of parliamentarians to discuss Parliament’s role in combating religious
intolerance in the UK, as well as with government officials and NGOs who work on
interfaith and religious issues.
At the UN, the EU tabled its resolution on “the elimination of all forms of religious
intolerance and of discrimination based on religion or belief”. This resolution calls for
member states to take a number of measures to protect and promote freedom of
religion or belief, including through constitutional or legislative reform, providing
protection to places and sites of worship, and ensuring non-discriminatory access to
a range of public services. We were disappointed that we were not able to secure
language on the freedom to change one’s religion or belief, but pleased that the final
resolution was co-sponsored by more than 60 countries.
Some countries have continued to argue that in response to religious intolerance, the
international community should adopt a new international legal standard on
“defamation of religions” which would provide international legal protection to
religions. We believe that this approach is inconsistent with the international human
rights legal framework, which exists to protect individuals and should not seek to
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