Century of genocides: End or continuity?

International Day of Religious Freedom (October 27) is a reminder that freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) is nor selfevident reality, neither broadly winning international trend. Quite opposite, tendency is negative. This essential, universal human value is currently seriously restricted or attacked in majority of world countries and territories representing 74% total population (Pew Report 2013). The Day also reminds to people the hard, long, often bloody road from serfdom, deep societal divisions, sectarian hatred and violent oppression to free, pluralist and tolerant societies respecting rule of law, human rights and basic universal values. Neither one is perfect role model in this, but we learn as we go. Many peoples, communities, leaders and governments in Europe, Asia, Africa, Americas, Australia and Oceania struggle to improve quality of democracy, to embrace and care more for these principles and values. Many dictator, autocratic regimes and violent grouos struggle in opposite direction: rule without law instead rule of law, rule over people instead service to people…

While more than 84% of people in the world can be described as „religiously affiliated“ (ibid), FoRB is not just related to them. It is for all, as it covers atheists, agnostics, everybody. Right to freedom of thought, conscious, religion or conviction is linked to freedom of expression, of assemly and other important civil and political rights. It is a lithmus test of all human rights. Because when the religious freedom is missing then other civil freedoms are missing as well. Culture of human dignity is inconceivable without FoRB. In my native country Slovakia and then Czechoslovakia, struggle to overcome totalitarian, communist regime peaked after Bratislava Great Friday 1988 when peaceful prayer manifestation of citizens in the center of capital city with requests for religious and civil rights was brutally attacked by police forces. Since then a trend towards „Velvet revolution“ and overall political change in 1989  became instoppable.

Freedom is not purposless and cannot survive without shared responsibility. Therefore claims for more religious liberty are in my mind implicitely linked to active engagement of religious leaders and communities for peace, justice, human togetherness and solidarity. This is very much needed in 21 Century. Since 1915 – 16 systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians, which constituted first recognized genocide of the 20 Century, mankind wend throug simmilar horrors on religious, racial, national or ethnic base in many parts of the globe – in Nazi and Soviet concentration camps, gulags and mass graves, in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia… Promise of „Never again“ from Nuremberg Tribunal 1946 was broken repeatedly, again and again. We abandon commitment to prevent genocide or inhumane treatment too often. In reality we abandon people in need, those persecuted for their religion, conviction, race, ethnicity – for their human identity. Systematic murdering, torture, enslaving, kidnapping, raping and persecution of religious and ethnic minorities on territories dominated by ISIS constitute the very same type of top crime – a genocide. Therefore here a very timely and allarming question comes: Shall the century of genocides end or continue? Which group and territory after Christians, Yezidis, Shia-Muslims and some other communities in Iraq and Syria will follow next time? Answer is crucially important and comittment is decisive. I am sure with many like-minded, that better century is possible. Better, more human century is our moral obligation! If we want to share more peaceful and better times, we have to prevent that repetitive tendency, returns of inhumanity. This means to stop persecution of innocent people, to help voiceless and defenceless victims, and to bring perpetrators of crimes to justice. Ignorance, indifference or fear helps fanatics and perpetrators of crimes; our silence hurts the victims.

Beside genocidal persecution there are many other forms of religious oppression – anti-blasphemy laws, anti-conversion laws, sectarian violence, totalitarian regimes which try to eliminate religious manifestations and freedom of concience and conviction for the sake of their ideology and uniformity. By the way, Marx and Lenin hated religion as an opium of mankind. And they have created their own, new religion. Major recent dictators – Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot – fiercely supressed FoRB.

Without understanding religions, including abuse of religion (like the one done by islamic terrorists), we cannot understand what is going on in our world. Subsequently we cannot find efficient healing therapy. Promotion of FoRB and ethics of responsibility, education for living in diversity is the principled way how to tackle religious fundamentalism, violent extremism and terrorism.  When we continuously cut the roots of ignorance, indifference and fear, culture of human dignity for all and everywhere may grow and bear positive fruits in our century.

Ján Figeľ

Special Envoy for promotion

of FoRB outside of the EU