A/HRC/52/38
4.
Demarches and public diplomacy
63.
Diplomatic missions, such as embassies, issue demarches or public statements 65 to
draw attention to violations and seek de-escalation with regard to serious violations of
freedom of religion or belief, for example, with regard to the cases of particular prisoners of
conscience 66 or to violations that involve executions, extrajudicial killings, unfair trials,
outbreaks of communal violence or violent attacks 67 where all else has failed. Through
multilateral cooperation, they carry out such advocacy actions jointly. 68 Public diplomacy has
also included facilitating person-to-person exchanges to promote better inter-faith and intrafaith awareness and understanding.
5.
Education, training and capacity-building
64.
Freedom of religion or belief technical assistance and trainings may be focused on
particular audiences, such as law enforcement officials. Others are concentrated on “religious
literacy”, which helps to sensitize participants regarding knowledge of different
manifestations of religion or belief, including its reasonable accommodation, 69 and the
understanding of why freedom of religion or belief can support effective responses to
pluralism and issues that can arise between or within religions or beliefs.70 In academia, too,
there are numerous scholarly settings, 71 authors and advocates 72 that advance this field,
provide crucial legislative input and support the mandate. They are starting to grow in
diversity, but their spread can be greatly expanded.
65.
Pedagogic tools and principles on toleration, as a means of integrating principles of
freedom of religion or belief and human rights into education, have been developed. 73 One
learning platform provides resources to help individuals, communities and decision makers
learn, reflect upon and promote freedom of religion or belief for all, 74 by providing resources
for personal study and group training courses for politicians, officials, diplomats,
policymakers75 and others. Others promote this through video series76 or peer-to-peer learning,
developed into a variety of formats, such as an online course addressing the role of religious
and faith-based actors in promoting human rights and sustainable peace, 77 an online facilitator
training course78 and other online and in-person formats.
6.
External financial instruments
66.
Project funding assists civil society organizations in promoting freedom of religion or
belief and supporting human rights defenders under threat. Financial tools are also pertinent
in sanctioning particularly egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief. The failure
to respect freedom of religion or belief may result in the suspension of cooperation or trade
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
GE.23-00741
See https://www.state.gov/international-religious-freedom-or-belief-alliance.
See https://www.uscirf.gov/victims-list.
European Union, “Guidelines on the promotion and protection of freedom of religion or belief”, 2103,
para. 50.
See https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_developmentenjeux_developpement/human_rights-droits_homme/freedom-religion-libertegroup_groupe.aspx?lang=eng.
A/69/261, sect. III.D. See also https://religiousfreedomandbusiness.org/about.
See https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Religion/WorkshopReligion.pdf.
For example, https://www.jus.uio.no/smr/english/about/id/oslocoalition/;
https://law.nus.edu.sg/cals/research-clusters/; https://www.aclars.org;
https://www.direitoereligiao.org/sobre-nos/english; https://www.iclars.org;
https://www.europeanacademyofreligion.org; https://www.iclrs.org/annual-international-law-andreligion-symposium/; and https://cslr.law.emory.edu, https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu.
For example, https://www.ewelinaochab.com; and https://www.knoxthames.com.
See https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000142342?posInSet=13&queryId=84896d88-79b64a07-92a4-82a6352fa98d.
See https://www.forb-learning.org/index.html.
See https://www.jus.uio.no/smr/english/about/id/oslocoalition/limitations/index.html.
See https://www.osce.org/odihr/514618.
See https://www.usip.org/academy/catalog/religions-beliefs-and-human-rights-faith-rights-approach.
See https://faith4rights.iclrs.org.
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