A report scheduled to release next week claims that the United Nations is currently failing to do its responsibility in protecting religious freedom and stopping the rise of anti-coversion laws.
According to the report of ADF International, several states in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar have already passed laws restricting a citizens' conversion to another religion in order to promote national identity around one faith. However, such laws blatantly breach the convention of human rights.
The report says, "The case is clear that anti-conversion laws, as formulated in India, Nepal, Myanmar, and Bhutan, violate basic human rights and international law. These laws discourage conversion from the majority religion to a minority religion and give license to extremists to perpetrate violence against minority religious communities under the guise of preventing forced conversions."
The UN, according to the report, is 'designed to combat' these laws and although some members of the UN have already spoken out against these conversion laws, "other entities have failed to condemn them - emblematic of the UN's overall failure to protect religious freedom"
Several groups have already supported the report for its content with US religious freedom ambassador Sam Brownback and EU special envoy on religious freedom Jan Figel speaking at the launch of the report in Washington D.C. next week.
According to Balakrishnan Baskaran, legal consultant to ADF International in India, "No person or group should live in fear of being killed, tortured, or oppressed because of their religious beliefs. The rise of anti-conversion laws worldwide testifies to a growing crisis in religious freedom."
The report also calls for the UN to "begin taking seriously its responsibility to protect religious freedom," because the more pressure these countries get from such distinct bodies, the most likely they may change its role."
It also added, "The UN cannot fulfill its role as promoter and protector of human rights until it prioritizes religious freedom."
