OSCE Meeting on Religious Freedom in Vienna - FOREF Statement & Recommentations

SUPPLEMENTARY HUMAN DIMENSION MEETING

ON FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF

9-10 December 2010 Hofburg, Vienna
___________________________________

Statement & Recommendations
AUSTRIA

BACKGROUND:

In Austria, we have over 66 percent Catholics and 2.9 Protestants. Islam, with 450 000 Muslims (4.2percent) constitutes the second largest faith community. Only 14 faith communities enjoy special privileges by the state. Another 10 are so-called “Confessional Communities.” There are approximately 600 religious minority groups, which are regarded as so-called “sects” and are targets of the anti-sect offices.  With a population of 8.2 million, Austria has no less than 33 anti – sect offices operating in the country. Proportionally, this marks an unmatched record in Europe and even on a global scale.

● Including the Federal Sect Observatory, there are five (5) state sponsored sect observation offices

● Nine (9) Catholic Sect Offices

● Seven (7) Protestant Sect Offices
● Four (4) Private Sect Offices
● and eight (8) Family Counseling Offices with special emphasis on “Sectarian
issues”.

Austria’s constitutionally granted freedom of religion and the neutrality of the state in religious matters are torpedoed by the following facts:

FOREF-COMMENTARY: Who needs the National Sect-Office?

FOREF-COMMENTARY: Who needs the National Sect-Office? by Werner Mueller

---

Vienna, 8.12.2010 – The National Office for Sectarian Issues exists in Vienna since 1998. Its central purpose is to collect, document and distribute information about so-called sects. The nature of this information is unknown. Is it publicly available information from the media, reports from so-called drop-outs or information from the so-called sects themselves? We do not know because the national office divulges no information about it and so transparency is non-existent. The taxpayers should actually expect it from a public office funded by taxes with a budget of over 400,000 Euro.
(Photo: Dr. German Müller, leader of the Federal Sect-Office)

The reference of the national office to simply collect, evaluate and distribute information about so-called sects, does not justify the expense of approximately seven employees. And anyhow, what is meant by collecting information, is the television programme perused for contents relating to the theme or daily newspapers evaluated? And if so, who receives these “threatening medial scenarios” which ultimately contribute to opinion making? The public is not permitted any insight into files relating to persons or financial issues of the National Office for Sectarian Issues.

Should we take a look at the work and results of the National Office for Sectarian Issues over the last ten years then it is sobering to establish that the “observation” of “sects” has not led to any results by this office. Where are the publications, the informational documents or the public presentations which reveal the potential risk of “sects”? And what results has the now more than ten years of observation of these groups brought? The National Office for Sectarian Issues remains silent on this issue. What we can read are individual annual reports of this office which in no way really describe the allegedly potential danger which apparently comes from “sects”.

Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo wins Nobel Peace Prize 2010

Free Liu Xiaobo!!!!!

The Misuse of the law on extremism Against Religious Minorities in Russia

OSCE/ODIHR Human Dimension Implementation Meeting

Vienna, 9-10 December 2010 

Security Issues and Freedom of Religion or Belief

The Misuse of the law on extremism

Against Religious Minorities in Russia

Over 700 pieces of religious literature banned

Website: http://www.hrwf.net

Misuse of the law on extremism in Russia

Human Rights Without Frontiers is concerned about the misuse of the law against religious extremism in Russia which has led to the prosecution of numerous peaceful groups which do not threaten public order, social peace or national security.

A court in the far eastern town of Komsomolsk-on-Amur has ordered a local internet service provider to block access to the international Jehovah's Witness website http://www.watchtower.org. The court ruled that magazines posted in Russian on their website violate the integrity of the Russian Federation and "incite social, racial and religious discord".

A nationwide state campaign directed against Jehovah's Witnesses began in early 2009. It intensified when the Supreme Court upheld Rostov-on-Don Regional Court's earlier ruling which outlawed 34 Jehovah's Witness titles as extremist and dissolved the local Jehovah's Witness congregation in Taganrog.

Three criminal cases have already been opened against individual Jehovah's Witnesses in connection with alleged extremist activity, accusations the accused vigorously deny.

Similarly the targets of a nationwide campaign are readers of the works of the Turkish Muslim theologian Said Nursi, many of whose works have also been placed on the Federal List of Extremist Materials.

The List, which runs around 700 titles, contains items whose preparation, distribution or storage with the intent of distribution is banned across Russia.

OSCE holds high profile Meeting on Religious Freedom in Vienna

Ahead of Human Rights Day, OSCE human rights chief, UN Special Rapporteur call for removing undue restrictions on religious freedom

---

http://www.osce.org/odihr/item_1_48158.html

VIENNA, 9 December 2010 - Janez Lenarcic, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and Heiner Bielefeldt, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, today called on states to remove undue restrictions on the fundamental freedom of religion or belief.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow's Human Rights Day at a special OSCE meeting on the topic, Lenarcic and Bielefeldt warned that individuals and communities still face impediments in enjoying freedom of religion or belief in many countries.

Lenarcic noted that some states tend to promote tolerance and mutual understanding among major faith groups while neglecting their commitment to respect religious rights for all: "Fostering tolerance and dialogue among mainstream religions is to be encouraged, but it cannot substitute for the protection of the freedom of religion or belief of all members of society, including smaller and less popular groups."

He said there are still countries in the OSCE region where individuals and groups cannot freely study religion, assemble to worship, disseminate religious literature or establish charitable organizations.
UN Special Rapporteur Bielefeldt stressed that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, without any discrimination based on religion or belief.

"Freedom of thought, conscience and religion includes freedom to change one's religion or belief and freedom to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance," he said, and called on states "to respect freedom of religion or belief, to actively protect such freedom against undue interference, and to promote an atmosphere of tolerance".

The two-day meeting, organized together with Kazakhstan's OSCE chairmanship, coincides with Human Rights Day, which marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1948.

Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova, who represented the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office at the meeting, stressed that respect for freedom of religion or belief is at the core of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and OSCE human dimension commitments.

At the OSCE Summit in Astana last week, the leaders of the 56 OSCE participating States agreed on a declaration that called for greater efforts to promote freedom of religion or belief. The Astana Commemorative Declaration also reiterated that the protection and promotion of human rights is the first responsibility of government, and expressed appreciation for the important role played by civil society and free media in helping to ensure full respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law.

Wikileaks hounded?

Wikileaks hounded?

 http://en.rsf.org/wikileaks-hounded-04-12-2010,38958.html

Statement by Reporters Without  Borders

______________________________________________________

Reporters Without Borders condemns the blocking, cyber-attacks and political pressure being directed at cablegate.wikileaks.org, the website dedicated to the US diplomatic cables. The organization is also concerned by some of the extreme comments made by American authorities concerning WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange.

Earlier this week, after the publishing several hundred of the 250.000 cables it says it has in its possession, WikiLeaks had to move its site from its servers in Sweden to servers in the United States controlled by online retailer Amazon. Amazon quickly came under pressure to stop hosting WikiLeaks from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and its chairman, Sen. Joe Lieberman, in particular.

After being ousted from Amazon, WikiLeaks found a refuge for part of its content with the French Internet company OVH. But French digital economy minister Eric Besson today said the French government was looking at ways to ban hosting of the site. WikiLeaks was also recently dropped by its domain name provider EveryDNS. Meanwhile, several countries well known for for their disregard of freedom of expression and information, including Thailand and China, have blocked access to cablegate.wikileaks.org.

This is the first time we have seen an attempt at the international community level to censor a website dedicated to the principle of transparency. We are shocked to find countries such as France and the United States suddenly bringing their policies on freedom of expression into line with those of China. We point out that in France and the United States, it is up to the courts, not politicians, to decide whether or not a website should be closed

UN Rebuts China for its "Cult" Stigmatization

UN Rebuts China for its "Cult" Stigmatization

______________________________________________________________________

http://www.falunhr.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1828&Itemid=

On Thursday, October 21, 2010, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Prof. Heiner Bielefeldt drew the world's attention, once again, to China's persecution of Falun Gong. He specifically denounced China's stigmatization of Falun Gong and some other "small communities" as "cults," during his presentation at the 65th U.N. General Assembly, held in New York.  Special Rapporteur Bielefeldt said, "Small communities, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Baha'is, Ahmadis, Falun Gong and others are sometimes stigmatized as 'cults' and frequently meet with societal prejudices which may escalate into fully fledged conspiracy theories."  This is Prof. Bielefeldt's first report to the U.N. General Assembly since he took the position as Special Rapporteur in August 2010. Ms. Asma Jahangir previously held the position. In his 15-minute presentation to the 192 member states, he criticized the government of China for its systematic persecution of and attitude of "intolerance" towards belief groups, including Falun Gong. His speech was reported to have "irritated" the delegation of China. The delegate responded with their usual demanding tone and repeated the communist party's position that the "correct response" is to eradicate Falun Gong.  The international media described China as being "irritated" yet again. This reaction accords with former reports of this kind. For example, after the U.N. Committee against Torture (CAT) published their China torture report on November 21, 2008, news media including the New York Times, BBC, VOA, and RFI unanimously described the government of China as being "irritated." Through this, the raspy and aggressive nature of the Communist party has been well exposed to the international community.