The “Faith for Rights” framework provides space for a cross-disciplinary reflection and action on the connections between religions, beliefs and human rights. The objective is to empower faith actors to contribute to fostering peaceful societies, which uphold human dignity and equality for all and where diversity is not just tolerated but fully respected and celebrated. The Beirut Declaration and its 18 commitments on “Faith for Rights”, adopted in March 2017, has been supported by and reaches out to various actors belonging to religions and beliefs in all regions of the world.
This #Faith4Rights toolkit (PDF) aims at translating the “Faith for Rights” framework into practical peer-to-peer learning and enriching capacity-building programmes. It contains 18 learning modules, mirroring each of the commitments on “Faith for Rights”. These modules offer concrete ideas for learning exercises, for example how to unpack the 18 commitments, share personal stories, search for additional religious quotes or provide for inspiring examples of artistic expressions. The whole concept is interactive, result-oriented and conducive to critical thinking. The toolkit is open for adaptation by facilitators in order to tailor the modules to the specific context of the participants.
The eighteen commitments on "Faith for Rights" pledge...
| 1. …to stand up and act for everyone's right to free choices, particularly for everyone's freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief |
2. … to use the declaration on "Faith for Rights" as a common minimum standard of interaction between theistic, non-theistic, atheistic or other believers |
3. ...to promote constructive engagement on the understanding of religious texts through critical thinking and debate on religious matters |
| 4. … to prevent the notions of "State religion" and "doctrinal secularism" from being used to discriminate or reduce the space for diversity of religions and beliefs |
5. … to ensure non-discrimination and gender equality, particularly regarding harmful stereotypes and practices or gender-based violence
… to ensure non-discrimination and gender equality, particularly regarding harmful stereotypes and practices or gender-based violence
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… to ensure non-discrimination and gender equality, particularly regarding harmful stereotypes and practices or gender-based violence
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6. … to stand up for the rights of all persons belonging to minorities and to defend their freedom of religion or belief, particularly in cultural, religious, social, economic and public life |
| 7. … to publicly denounce all instances of advocacy of hatred that incites to violence, discrimination or hostility in the name of religion or belief |
8. … to monitor interpretations, determinations or other religious views that manifestly conflict with universal human rights norms and standards |
9. … to condemn any judgemental determination that disqualifies the religion or belief of another individual or community, exposing them to violence in the name of religion |
| 10. … not to tolerate exclusionary interpretations on religious grounds which instrumentalize religions, beliefs or their followers for electoral purposes or political gains |
11. … not to oppress critical voices on religious matters in the name of "sanctity", and to advocate for repealing any anti-blasphemy and anti-apostasy laws |
12. … to review the curriculums and teaching materials wherever some religious interpretations seem to encourage or tolerate violence or discrimination |
| 13. … to engage with children and youth against violence in the name of religion and to promote their active participation in decision-making |
14. … to ensure that humanitarian aid is given regardless of the recipients' creed and that aid will not be used to further a particular religious standpoint |
15. … not to coerce people in vulnerable situations into converting from their religion or belief, while fully respecting everyone's freedom to have, adopt or change a religion or belief |
| 16. … to leverage the spiritual and moral weight of religions and beliefs in order to strengthen the protection of universal human rights and develop preventative strategies |
17. … to develop sustained partnerships with specialised academic institutions to promote interdisciplinary research, programs and tools for implementing the 18 commitments |
18. … to use technological means more creatively and consistently in order to produce capacity-building and outreach tools and make them available for use at the local level |
The annex proposes several cases to debate, which illustrate the intersectionality of the 18 commitments and enhance the skills of faith actors to manage religious diversity in real-life situations towards the shared aims of “Faith for Rights”.
This toolkit builds on a wealth of comparable tools by several UN agencies that have been integrated into the #Faith4Rights toolkit. It also illustrates artistic expressions as learning tools and offers built-in links to relevant resources faith actors would need. For any enquiries, please send an email to: faith4rights@ohchr.org
Index ¦ Module 0 >
Welcome to the United Nations 
OHCHR 
