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News
October 2004
Newly-appointed
UN Religious Freedom Expert Pledges Action
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Ms.
Asma Jahangir
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New York City, NY,
USA… Dr. Asma Jahangir, the chief United Nations investigator on
religious freedom issues, pledged herself to act "against violations
of human rights, deal with root causes, and deliver conclusions and recommendations."
Addressing members of an UN-affiliated non-government organizations (NGOs)
in New York on October 28, Jahangir, recently appointed UN special rapporteur
for Freedom of Religion or Belief, accepted that "some of the questions
I will be dealing with are very contentious, but have great opportunities.
Protection of individual human rights will be a central part of my work,
and I welcome reports and urgent appeals from your organizations."
Jahangir, stating
that hers was "an activist mandate," announced that she planned
to hold press conferences in the countries she visited, saying that "this
is one of the ways to get the world out. We owe it to the victims of persecution
to let them know what a difference it will make to tell stories."
Dr. Jonathan Gallagher,
UN representative for the International Religous Liberty Association and
also secretary of the UN NGO Committee for Freedom of Religion or Belief,
welcomed such an approach. "It's vital that we shine the spotlight
on human rights violations, especially religious persecution and violence
that tragically is on the increase," said Gallagher. "We will
continue to send our reports and urgent appeals to the special rapporteur
as we have done in the past, and look forward to practical and substantive
results."
Accompanying Dr. Gallagher
was Chris Banks, UN liaison volunteer intern, currently enrolled in the
Master's in International Affairs program at Columbia University. Chris
commented that Jahangir also talked about current trends in countries
such as Norway and Thailand where "fairly homogeneous nations have
to come to terms with the changing ethnic and religious natures of their
societies due to the influx of immigrant populations." Such countries
are realizing the need to take a look at national laws vis-à-vis
these new groups.
The IRLA has had special
consultative status with the UN since 2003.
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