| Event Model #3: “Training Day: Freedom of Conscience in International Law” |
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 Summary: Ahmed, a young Egyptian lawyer, organized a day-long seminar for young cyber-activists on international conventions relating to religious freedom. Participants learned about international law, techniques of responding to types of religious discrimination, and ultimately proposed their own ideas for promoting a culture of tolerance. Breakout groups came up with lots of interesting ideas, which were discussed at length during a post-seminar trip to a local café.
Challenge Addressed: The topic of religious freedom is quite charged in Egypt, particular in relation to the country’s large Christian minority. But freedom of conscience is important to all Egyptians, especially with the growing influence of fundamentalist groups in society. While many bloggers and activists discuss these topics, few are familiar with international laws that relate to religious freedom.
Participants: 13 participants attended the training. The group was comprised of undergraduate students, lawyers, and bloggers. All of them were cyber-activists on Facebook.
Event Description: Training seminar started at 10AM. Participants were first asked to mention their expectations for the seminar and how it relates to their own experiences. The purpose was to measure their knowledge level on the respective topics and spark their interest in the topic, using the discussion as an ice-breaking tool.
The first session introduced participants to the terminology, features, and development phases of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I used case studies to illustrate each point. Participants were given a brief history on past human rights movements, the reasons for dissolving the League of Nations, and the establishment of United Nations. The articles of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights were explained. Participants were then divided into groups to discuss.
The second session discussed the ICCPR with special focus on articles related to freedom of belief and freedom of religion. We discussed the commitment of signatory nations on the covenant and how to ensure this commitment with its stipulations. Participants were divided into work groups to discuss ways of make sure the ICCPR would be respected in our society. After the break-out conversation, each group presented to the entire seminar.
Third session was all dedicated to discussing the meaning and definition of freedom of belief and religion in various international conventions of human rights. Then, we discussed the various groups that can discriminate: (1) the State on national or regional levels, (2) Governmental Institutions, (3) Individuals or a group of people. This was followed by a practical training through workgroups that mimicked situations of discrimination, spotlighting the violation committed, victim, violator, and rights violated.
We then explored how to confront the challenges facing the application of ICCPR stipulations regarding freedom of belief. Issues addressed included:
- Religious or national law versus International Law
- Religious Proselytism
- Conscious objection on obligatory military service
- Woman posture in religions
- Claims of supremacy of one religion or belief on others
- Changing or selecting a religious commitment
- Relationship between religion and state.
Before the session, trainees were asked to suggest the role expected from each of them in activating and promoting freedom of religion, tolerance culture, and accepting the other. Their suggestions were introduced in the final session of the seminar. The final session was dedicated to receiving suggestions from each trainee to activate and promote the culture of tolerance, brotherhood, accepting the other, freedom of conscience, freedom of belief, and freedom of religion. At the end of the session the majority voted on taking the following steps:
- Creating a weblog for the group
- Creating a Facebook group titled "Jewish, Christian, or Buddhist - None of Your Business!"
- Creating a special logo and slogan for the group
- Some young participants with literary talents volunteered to write short stories, plays, and poems supporting the freedom of religion and post them on blog and Facebook group.
The tasks were distributed on participants. The seminar was then evaluated through mentioning the positive and negative aspects. Afterwards, the group moved to a downtown café for an open discussion.
Is This a Model Event?
This was definitely an ambitious event. I had to recruit a group of people ready to learn and work together for a full day. And I had to prepare advanced material on international law for the group to discuss. My legal training was very important for this.
I expect that many people might be intimidated about taking on such a big topic. But the basic themes of the day were very simple: the freedom of each individual human being to define their own beliefs – and the practical obstacles to protecting that right in our own societies. You do not need to be a legal expert to talk about these issues or to come up with ideas for how to promote freedom of conscience.
If you want to do a similar event, I would be ready to share my lesson plan for the day. Or else you can follow these basic steps:
- Read a bit about freedom of conscience and international laws on the topic.
- Find a diverse group of people in your community interested in the topic. Bloggers, lawyers, activists, and journalists are all good, although it could be anyone open to discussing new ideas.
- Recruit at least ten people to commit to five hours of discussion.
- Make sure to have food available and promise to feed people. It’s a good way to recruit participants.
- Ask each person in advance to come with at least one suggestion for what they could do to promote religious freedom.
- Plan a program for the day that includes brief lectures but also lots of time for group discussions and breakout sessions.
- Conclude the seminar by reviewing people’s ideas and then evaluating what worked well and what could have been done better in the seminar.
- Suggest a café to visit afterwards where people can keep talking, but now in an informal setting.
Reviewers' Comments:
Religious freedom is key to interfaith peace. Aside from understanding another person’s faith, it’s also important to understand what freedom of conscience is, why it should be protected, and how that freedom should be balanced against other, sometimes competing freedoms. Education about the law is a great way to discuss these issues, as they focus on practicalities and difficulties in protecting rights and not just theoretical language about why “rights” are good.
The workshop succeeded since the presenter clearly used his specialist background (law) to create an event. The law forces discussions to be more specific and pragmatic, and could also push discussants to think about grey areas, difficult issues, and theoretical conflicts that the law is meant to mediate. Otherwise, a theoretical discussion of “human rights” can lead to a general affirmation of the idea without addressing the very real difficulties of executing human rights.
The seminar appears to have been well-organised (including measuring the participants’ knowledge level) and introduced the fundamentals of international religious freedom law in a systematic way. The plan for future action was realistic and could be a real contribution to the area. The artistic projects presented (stories, plays, poems) are a creative way to approach the problem. Future events should involve attorneys who have been involved in religious freedom conflicts. They can often provide insights that are not usually presented in the international law documents.
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