Mr Heiner Bielefeldt, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, presented on “The rights
of religious minorities” on Item IV
Thank you very much Chair.
Let me first of all appreciate the possibility to also take the floor and say something from my mandate
as Special Rapporteur on Freedom and Religion or belief.
I have noticed that within the minority rights discussion increasing is being paid also to the situation of
religious minorities. I would now say that the same move is from the opposite angle, that from the
perspective of freedom of religion or belief, those engaged in the discussion do see increasingly also
the potential of minority protection for enhancing the situation of freedom of religion or beliefs in
particular of vulnerable groups. And that is why I will devote my next thematic report - to be
delivered in March to the Human Rights Council – to the situation of religious minorities and their
freedom of religion or belief.
The starting point of that report will be the experience of abuses. Abuses that occur in various
regions of the world originating from most different political motives or religious motives, ideological,
but sometimes personal notice. Such abuses are perpetrated by states, or non-state actors and quite
often, the combination of both. In particular human rights violations perpetrated by non-state actors
often a climate of impunity. That’s one of the challenges. Abuses include a broad range of
phenomena like unproportionate bureaucratic restrictions – I would say that is one of the main
problems. Denial of proper legal status positions that minorities need to build up a religious
infrastructure. Systematic discrimination and partial exclusion from important sectors of society,
discriminatory rules in family laws, indoctrination of children from minorities in public schools and
publically soaked prejudices and vilifications sometimes connected also with historic traumas and
national mythologies. Acts of vandalism, dislocation ect, ect. I don’t want to go on with this list.
Given the number and also the gravity of human rights violations in need for concerted action to
safeguard the human rights of those belonging to religious minorities is more than obvious.
The point that I want to make is that such activities must be based on all the principals of the human
rights approach, that is, universalism, freedom and equality. So the rights of persons belonging to
religious or belief minorities should be consistently interpreted from a human rights perspective. And
they must be implemented in conjunction of all other human rights. That is why the term religious
minority should be broadly construed such as to cover all respective groups of person, including
traditional, as well as non-traditional communities, large and small communities.
I want you to also take into account the situation of internal minorities, that is, minority groups within
larger minorities. And special attention should be given to women from religious or belief minorities
who suffer from multiple or intersectional forms of discrimination.
I would like to reiterate in this context that the rights of persons belonging to religious minorities are
not interuniversalist privileges reserved for members of certainly defined groups. Rather all persons
who factually live in the situation of religious or belief minority should be able to fully enjoy their
freedom of religion or belief in full respect of their self-understanding, which is always a starting point
– self-understanding of human beings – on the basis of effective non-discrimination and prospects of
really developing their community related religious or belief identities. And that requires indeed extra