Its been roughly six months since I became a Trustee at René Cassin, but my involvement with the organisation goes back over ten years to when I was part of the Fellowship Programme. Soon after I joined the Board, I came across my Fellowship application. Putting aside my rather youthful enthusiasm, it was an odd experience to reflect on how participation in the Fellowship had fit into my career as an interfaith professional, which is how I would describe myself now.
It’s Interfaith Week this week, so it feels like a good time to consider how these two parts of my life intersect, to think about what interfaith and human rights have to do with each other, and to push back against the idea that interfaith is nothing more than “bagels and samosas”. It’s worth saying at this point: I am not a lawyer! So to the lawyers reading this, please forgive the way in which I skip through the jargon!
Many readers will be familiar with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Perhaps fewer will know about Article 18, which is the Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion, and which was guaranteed under international law within the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is this area of human rights law which is arguably most readily relevant to interfaith activities.
Earlier this year, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), Professor Nazila Ghanea – who has a mandate to review the state of FoRB and FoRB violations globally – published a report on peace and freedom of religion or belief. You can read it here. What is important about the framing of the report is that in setting out what is understood as peace, it includes a broader definition, which draws in ideas of inclusive societies. It is in relation to these ideas where the relevance and importance of interfaith becomes apparent.
Reading the report, it is clear it is not simply the case that a society in which interfaith activities take place is a society in which human rights are upheld. Rather, it is that a society in which interfaith activities take place is a society in which attention is being given to expand access to human rights for all, particularly to the most marginalized and isolated in that society. That is because, however imperfectly, an interfaith space must, by definition, strive to be an inclusive space. Yes, there will be challenges along the way (interfaith dialogue is replete with discussions and disagreements about how such activities should be set up and who should be part of them, but an exploration of that critique is for another day) but for interfaith dialogue to take place, requires difference. More than that, and as the report stresses, this might include religions or belief identities not recognised by the majority.
Speaking personally, this is where the power of interfaith lies – in its ability to challenge us to think about who is not included or present in our conversations and to think about how we work to draw those absent voices in and make them feel secure and valued. That is why I think that the work René Cassin does is so important, because while it is delivering impactful campaigns, whether on calling out the Uyghur genocide, or challenging indefinite immigration detention, it does so in collaboration and partnership with others. By taking a multi-faith, interfaith approach, René Cassin is actively expanding access to human rights and that is why, for me, working to promote and protect human rights goes hand in hand with promoting and encouraging interfaith activities.
I hope you have a great Interfaith Week!!
by Josh Cass, René Cassin Alumni and Trustee
