The LWF takes part in a consultation aimed at keeping women’s rights at the centre of efforts for religious and belief freedom
Oslo, Norway / Geneva
06.06.2019.
On an empty stage, a woman with her head covered has knelt down and bows in prayer. From one side enters an activist for religious freedom, and from the other – an advocate of gender justice. Both try to pull her, but in opposite directions (Lutheran World Information Centre).
This simple sketch serves as a backdrop to the recent gathering in Oslo – aimed at improving the relationship between those who work on religious and belief freedom and those who are engaged in advancing gender equality. The 24–25 May seminar was organised by the governments of Denmark and Norway, together with the Danish Institute for Human Rights and the Stefanus Alliance, as well as in cooperation with several UN offices.
The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has joined around 30 other faith-based organisations (FBOs) to discuss the overlap between the right to religious freedom and women’s rights, working within the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 (SDGs). The meeting focused on compiling best practices and proposals for concrete action in order to ensure progress in education (SDG Goal 4) and conflict prevention and access to the justice system (SDG Goal 16), keeping gender equality at the centre of these efforts.
Maria Cristina Rendón of the LWF shared examples of strengthening women’s human rights capacity among the churches belonging to the LWF, in country programmes and with partners who work from a faith perspective. The aim is to develop an approach that devotes greater attention to gender. She likewise emphasised the LWF’s commitment to follow the SDG plan with its “Waking the Giant” initiative, in which faith-based actors are provided with tools that will allow them to play a decisive role and to “leave no one behind.”
The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of belief and religion, Ahmed Shaheed, emphasised the importance of involving all stakeholders, from leadership to grassroots participants. He reiterated that FBOs play an extremely important role in the fields of research, advocacy and capacity building. He noted that an approach to religious freedom that is not grounded in rights can subject the worth and dignity of women and girls to a regressive religious ideology.
Another UN representative, Azza Karam, a senior advisor at the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and chair of the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Development (UNIATF), said: “Gender issues are the most significant dimension that allows one to assess the commitment to ensuring human rights. This is where the greatest disagreements can be seen.”
“Gender issues are the most significant dimension that allows one to assess the commitment to ensuring human rights. This is where the greatest disagreements can be seen,” Azza Karam, senior advisor at the UN Population Fund and chair of the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Development.
Participants from many countries and faith traditions shared examples, telling of the harmful ways in which religion is used to justify discrimination and violence, with legislation concerning family life, divorce, inheritance or child custody, as well as of harmful practices, including early marriages and female genital mutilation. They noted that attempts to challenge such practices are often labelled “Western interference” in traditional cultures and faith.
The Indian professor Samia Huq of Ambedkar University in New Delhi spoke about the efforts to overcome the explosive mixture of patriarchalism, religious fundamentalism and the caste system, which hinders women’s access to their rights and dignity in her country. She highlighted the economic factors that create further barriers for women seeking to access India’s justice system.
The theologian Nayla Tabbara of the Adyan Foundation in Lebanon explained how various Muslim and Christian groups in her country apply their own legislation concerning family and women’s rights. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land was given as an example of a faith community that engages in the implementation of SDG Goal 16 (access to the justice system). It is reforming its legislation on family matters in order to renounce any norms that are discriminatory toward women, and it strives to implement the LWF gender justice policy.
Another positive example is the Colombian ecumenical platform DiPaz (Dialogue for Peace), supported by the LWF. It brings together several denominations and groups in order to discuss complex issues concerning justice and human rights, including gender equality. In the context of political polarisation and the new peace agreement, DiPaz provides a vitally important space where conversations about religious freedom and women’s rights can take place.
The next steps in this consultation process will include the creation of a compilation of best practices. In the second half of 2019, another seminar will be held, focusing on good health and well-being (SDG Goal 3) and climate action (SDG Goal 13), keeping gender equality at the centre of the analysis and of the proposed action. The process will conclude in 2020 with recommendations for the various stakeholders and a thematic report on gender equality from the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of belief and religion.
Source: Lutheran World Federation news
Photo: Stefanus Alliance