Research Guides: Freedom of Religion or Belief (Library Talk, 10 March 2016): Selected Resources

Freedom of Religion or Belief : Book launch and Panel discussion

Panel discussion on the 30th anniversary of the mandate of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief

Freedom of Religion or Belief : An International Law Commentary by Heiner Bielefeldt; Nazila Ghanea; Michael Wiener
ISBN: 9780198703983
Publication Date: 2016
Violations of religious freedom and violence committed in the name of religion grab our attention on a daily basis. Freedom of religion or belief is a key human right, enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and numerous conventions, declarations and soft law standards.

This book is the first commentary to look comprehensively at the international provisions for the protection of freedom of religion or belief. The commentary takes stock of their implementation and interpretation by various UN Special Procedures and Treaty Bodies, fifty years since the adoption of the two Covenants and thirty years since the creation of the Special Rapporteur’s mandate.

Thursday, 10 March 2016, 13h - 14h30
UNOG Library Events Room B-135
Palais des Nations, Geneva

With the participation of
Heiner Bielefeldt, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief

Nazila Ghanea, Member of the OSCE Advisory Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief

Anja Seibert-Fohr, Vice-Chair of the United Nations Human Rights Committee

Michael Wiener, Visiting Fellow of Kellogg College at the University of Oxford

Moderated by
Diane Ala’i, Chair of the CoNGO Sub-Committee on Freedom of Religion and Belief

Learn more about UNOG Library Talks and REGISTER to attend here.

A selection of related titles available at UNOG Library

Facilitating Freedom of Religion or Belief : A Deskbook by Editors: Tore Lindholm; W. Cole Durham; Bahia G. Tahzib-Lie; Elizabeth A. Sewell; Lena Larsen
Call Number: Legal & Political Reading Room - 348 F141
ISBN: 9004137831
Publication Date: 2004
Launched by the Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief, this deskbook anthology is designed as a single-volume resource for all who are concerned with facilitating improved global compliance with international standards in this vital area. Appendices provide texts of major international instruments on freedom of religion or belief.
Religion, Secular Beliefs and Human Rights by Natan Lerner
Call Number: Legal & Political Reading Room (Not for loan) 348 L616a
ISBN: 9789004232150
Publication Date: 2012
This book discusses the legal meaning of religion and belief, the United Nations work in this respect, religious minorities, relevant regional and special arrangements, the issue of proselytism, religion and terrorism, religious symbols, international criminal law. This second edition of the book updates the information on relevant developments and incorporates several new issues related to religious freedoms, such as: freedom from religion, religion and freedom of association, religion and freedom of expression (including the controversy with respect of defamation of religions), and group rights and legal pluralism.
Religion and Human Rights : An international journal
Call Number: Periodicals Reading Room (Also online @UNOGLibrary)
Publication Date: 2006-
Religion & Human Rights provides a unique academic forum for the discussion of issues which are of crucial importance and which have global reach. The Journal covers the interactions, conflicts and reconciliations between religions or beliefs on the one hand; and systems for the promotion and protection of human rights, international, regional and national, on the other.
Islam and the West : The Limits of Freedom of Religion by Hana Sadik El-Gallal
Call Number: Recent Acquisitions Collection, Room B121 348(53) G162 (Also available as an e-book)
ISBN: 3034305788
Publication Date: 2014
This book explores the scope of the right to freedom of religion in the International Treaties and Declarations and investigates why this right creates misunderstandings and misconceptions that often lead to intolerance and discrimination in countries of various political, social, and cultural backgrounds.
State Responses to Minority Religions by David Kirkham
Call Number: e-book (accessible @UNOGLibrary)
ISBN: 1409465799
Publication Date: 2013
The response of states to demands for free exercise of religion or belief vary greatly across the world. In some places, religions come as close as imaginable to autonomous existences with little interference from government. In other cases religion finds itself under the under the watchful eye of the state.
Law and Religion : National, International, and Comparative Perspectives by Brett G. Scharffs; W. Cole Durham
Call Number: Legal & Political Reading Room - 291 D958
ISBN: 0735584826
Publication Date: 2009
Offering extensive international and comparative law materials, as well as Establishment Clause and Free Exercise cases, international experts Durham and Scharffs bring new vision and scope to the study of Law and Religion.
Das Mandat des UN-Sonderberichterstatters über Religions- oder Weltanschauungsfreiheit : institutionelle, prozedurale und materielle Rechtsfragen by Michael Wiener
Call Number: Stacks - 348 W647
Publication Date: 2007
Text in German, summary in English.
Freedom of Religion or Belief : ensuring effective international legal protection by Bahiyyih G. Tahzib
Call Number: UNOG Library Stacks - 341.1 T128
ISBN: 9041101594
Publication Date: 1995
'... an excellent study of international human rights standards and machinery for enforcing freedom of religion or belief.' IARF World, 1 (1997).

Selected articles available at UNOG Library

The Legal Obligations of State and Non-State Actors in Respect of the Protection of Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion or Belief

de Jong, Dennis

Religion & Human Rights, 2008, Vol.3(1), pp.1-13

From tolerance to respect : religions and human rights law

Shelton, Dinah.

Human rights law journal, 33(7/12) 31 Dec. 2013 : 241-247.

2013.

Strengthening the Role of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief

Evans, Carolyn

Religion & Human Rights, 2006, Vol.1(1), pp.75-96

Misperceptions of Freedom of Religion or Belief

Bielefeldt, Heiner

Human Rights Quarterly, Feb 2013, Vol.35(1), pp.33-68,267

Misperceptions of freedom of religion or belief

Bielefeldt, Heiner.

Human rights quarterly, 35(1) Feb. 2013 : 33-68.

2013.

The Question of Freedom of Religion or Belief and Defamation

Rivers, Julian

Religion & Human Rights, 2007, Vol.2(3), pp.113-118

Protecting and Implementing the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief: Interview with Heiner Bielefeldt

Bielefeldt, Heiner

Journal of Human Rights Practice, 2011, Vol. 3(3), pp.229-244

Religious Pluralism and Human Rights in Europe: Where to Draw the Line? Religion, Secular Beliefs and Human Rights, 25 Years After the 1981 Declaration

Ghanea, Nazila

International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 15, 4, 539-544(6)

2008

The Mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief—Institutional, Procedural and Substantive Legal Issues

Wiener, Michael

Religion & Human Rights, 2007, Vol.2(1-2), pp.3-17

25th Anniversary Commemoration of the adoption of the 1981 UN Declaration on the elimination of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief — A Report

Temperman, Jeroen

Religion & Human Rights, 2007, Vol.2(1-2), pp.19-30

The Freedom of Religion or Belief and the Freedom of Expression

Evans, Malcolm

Religion & Human Rights, 2009, Vol.4(2-3), pp.197-235

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Selected UN resources

A/RES/36/55. Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief
Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief is an independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council.
Rapporteur's Digest on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Includes excerpts of the reports from 1986 to 2011 arranged by topics of the Special Rapporteur's framework for communications.