MONITORING FREEDOM OF FAITH

[Dr. John Dayal]

Human rights activists across the world will be happy at the news that
Italy has set up a Commission for Monitoring Religious Freedom in all
countries. This is the second such commission in the world after the
troubled United States Commission for International Religious Freedom
which, in recent years, has been beset by funding problems despite a
very good record in “naming and shaming” countries where religious
minorities are persecuted by the State or by majority groups.

Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs Giulio Terzi and Mayor of Rome
Gianni Alemanno signed a protocol of understanding today at the
foreign ministry in Rome establishing the “Osservatorio della libertà
religiosa” (Observatory for Religious Freedom) for the study, analysis
and monitoring of freedom of worship around the world. During the
signing ceremony Minister Terzi reconfirmed Italy’s determination,
along with the Holy See, to act in every international setting on
behalf of the assertion of the universal values of interfaith dialogue
and tolerance, underscoring the decisive role of the diplomatic
network in maintaining Italy’s high profile in those countries where
religious minorities continue to be the target of violence,
discrimination and persecution. Italy has committed in the UN and the
EU to ensure that fostering freedom of worship and peaceful co-
existence between faiths would continue to be one of the
distinguishing features of the ethical dimension of Italian foreign
policy. Human rights issue were part of the discussions at the
European Union-India summit on strategic partnership in Delhi in Early
February 2012.

There had been demands internationally that the presidents of the
European Council and the European Commission make human rights a
central part of their discussions with Indian officials. The human
rights situation in India is “much poor”, international and Indian
groups have said in documents prepared for the second Universal
Periodic Review that India faces in Geneva in the meetings of the
United Nations Human Rights Council. While India boasts of a number of
human rights organisations created by parliament, the record in all
areas of human rights, including freedom of faith, remains dismal.

India has yet to enact adequate laws or implement policies to protect
marginalized communities, particularly Dalits, tribal groups,
religious minorities, women, and children. The government also
routinely fails to take action in cases of serious human rights
violations, particularly all forms of sexual assault against women,
communal violence, enforced disappearances in conflict areas,
extrajudicial killings, torture. These issues are compounded by the
widespread impunity for abuses and the corresponding problems of
access to justice and adequate compensation, international groups such
as Human Rights Watch have said. India will really have to clean up
its act if it is to really police human rights violations in other
countries, especially in south and west Asia.