Ben Rogers: International Religious Freedom: A Human Right for Everyone
ICC Note:
“Christians get out, kill the Christians,” extremists yelled at a group of Christians earlier this year outside of Jakarta, Indonesia. Religious freedom violations committed by extremist groups have increased in the country not only against Christians, but also Ahmadi Muslims and people who consider themselves non-religious. Alex Aan, for example, was arrested in West Sumatra for declaring himself an atheist. In this article, Ben Rogers that many countries worldwide continue to violate Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which encompasses “perhaps the most important, basic freedom of all – the freedom to choose, and to change, your beliefs, and the freedom, either alone or with others, in private or in public, to practice those beliefs, within the rule of law.”
By Ben Rogers
10/9/2012 Indonesia (Conservative Home)- Five months ago, I sat in a remote prison in the hills in West Sumatra, Indonesia, and met a young man, Alex Aan, who had been jailed for his beliefs. I travelled over 1,300 kilometres from Jakarta to see him, involving a flight and a four hour drive through the mountains.
Alex, aged 30, had been imprisoned not because of his religious beliefs, but because he has no religious beliefs. He had declared himself an atheist. Yet Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on the freedom of religion or belief (FORB), applies just as much to Alex as it does to any of the millions of religious believers around the world persecuted for their faith.
A few days before visiting Alex, I had stood with a church congregation just outside Jakarta, surrounded by a mob of extremist Islamists shouting “Christians get out, kill the Christians”.
The previous year, I had met Ahmadi Muslims who had survived a brutal attack on their community. One man described how he was stripped naked and beaten severely and a machete was held at his throat. He was dragged through the village and dumped in a truck like a corpse. Another man fled into a fast-flowing river, pursued by attackers throwing rocks and shouting “kill, kill, kill.” He hid in a bush, dripping wet and extremely cold, for four hours. A third suffered a broken jaw, while a fourth, pursued by men armed with sickles, machetes and spears, was detained by the police for three days, treated as a suspect not a victim.
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Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is perhaps the most important, basic freedom of all – the freedom to choose, and to change, your beliefs, and the freedom, either alone or with others, in private or in public, to practise those beliefs, within the rule of law. It can never be viewed in isolation from other human rights – freedom of association, freedom of expression, freedom of movement, press freedom – but it should be recognised as the freedom that underpins all others. And it is a human right for everyone, religious and non-religious.
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