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LIREC Conference at the Italian Parliament: Discussion on the Freedom of Religion and State Security

PRESS RELEASE

Center for Studies LIREC's Press Releases and News

LIREC Conference at the Italian Parliament: Discussion on the Freedom of Religion and State Security

Raffaella Di Marzio

On November 8, 2021, a conference was held in the New Hall of the Parliamentary Groups of the Chamber of Deputies, organized by Hon. Stefano Ceccanti in collaboration with the Center for the Study of Freedom of Religion, Belief and Conscience (LIREC).

Conference Theme: Religious Freedom and Security in the Secular State. The difficult balance between complementary and interdependent rights.

Hon. Ceccanti, R. di Marzio, LIREC, A. Dini Ciacci, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The conference was attended by representatives from the institutional world and from various religious and secular organizations and associations.

After opening greetings from the Honorary President Prof. Pietro Nocita, the Director Raffaella Di Marzio introduced the Conference by emphasizing how the topic was addressed in light of the important publication produced by the OSCE-ODHIR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights): Freedom of Religion or Belief and Security. Policy Guidance, published in 2019.

Freedom of Religion or Belief and Security

Policy Guidance

OSCE ODHIR 2019

DOWNLOAD THE DOCUMENT

During the Conference, reports received by the LIREC Study Center and testimonies from different parts of the world were illustrated, showing how the need to ensure the security of citizens has led some States to adopt measures and enact laws that violate the fundamental principles underlying the right to freedom of religion or belief. The concept that continually emerges in the Guidelines is that freedom of religion or belief, and security, are complementary and interdependent rights and one cannot be promoted by restricting the other.

Mr. Ceccanti, Honorable member of Parliament, underlined how valuing religious freedom is always difficult because it involves moving within a triangle of claims for the rights of three social groups: majority religions, minority religions and organizations representing atheists and agnostics (which support the separation of State institutions from religious denominations). The rights of all these groups must be defended whilst always taking into account the social and institutional reality of a given context.

The Conference was divided into four panel discussions.

At 3.30 p.m. the first panel discussion, Freedom and Security for All: A Global Challenge, began with the speech by Prof. Fattori from the University of Foggia, who with other colleagues produced the first translation in Italian of the OSCE 2019 Guidelines  on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Security, in the volume “Religious Freedom and Security”. He summarized some of the key concepts of the document, such as that of “integrated security” and pointed out that an overly vague concept of “extremism” can lead States to enact laws that may violate the fundamental rights of entirely peaceful religious communities. On the other hand, the OSCE document appeals to religious communities to cooperate with institutions in order to prevent any internal deviation leading to acts of hostility or violence.

First panel discussion: Freedom and Security for All: A Global Challenge

Davide Romano, Director of Coscienza e Libertà (Conscience and Freedom) magazine and of the Department of Public Affairs and Religious Freedom of the Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church, pointed out that religions have a “tendency to be totalitarian”, especially when they make use of sacred texts by exploiting or exasperating their contents. At times religious communities know how to be effective interlocutors and promoters of peace, while in other cases they play a role that tends to safeguard only the interests of other corporations.

The discussion ended with a presentation by Patrizio Zenobi, from the Press Office of Jehovah's Witnesses, who presented the situation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, where the government has enacted a law against “extremism” that is designed with exactly the opposite intentions of the OSCE document and of the Declaration of Human Rights itself. When introducing Zenobi's speech, the Director pointed out that Jehovah's Witnesses’ situation in Russia has been the subject of at least three parliamentary questions in Italy. LIREC participated in the press conference presenting the first question, which dates back to 2017 and had as its first signatory the Hon. Rostellato and other deputies of the Democratic Party as co-signers, including the Hon. Lacquaniti. The other two parliamentary questions were in 2019 and 2020. Both have been answered. The last one was signed by the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Marina Sereni. In brief, the response states that the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia "represents one of the most evident critical issues in human rights in the country today" and reaffirmed Italy’s commitment to the defense and promotion of religious freedom for all. The speaker presented data on imprisonments, convictions, violence and torture perpetrated against Jehovah's Witnesses by the police at the service of a government guilty of promulgating unjust laws designed only to persecute a minority religion.

At 4.30 p.m. the second panel discussion started: Women, peace and security.

The Director introduced the discussion by pointing out that the OSCE document states that "Freedom of religion or belief and equality of men and women belong to the same indivisible structure of human rights". Moreover, “because men and women can be affected differently by violations of their right to freedom of religion or belief, it is important to counter discrimination based on both freedom of religion or belief and gender.”

Fabrizio Petri, Minister Plenipotentiary and President of the Interministerial Committee for Human Rights (CIDU), began the work by illustrating the important contribution of the CIDU in this specific area, especially with reference to the Fourth National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (2020 - 2024), in implementation of Security Council Resolution No. 1325 (2000).

Prof. Sabrina Martucci, Professor at the University of Bari, illustrated the situation of women and their role in conflicts, even in difficult places such as Afghanistan. They are not only victims, but they increasingly take on the role as protagonists and as “agents of change” in peace processes and in the promotion of security. Women also play an important role in preventing and combating radicalization.

Gabriela Lio, Baptist pastor, President of the Federation of Evangelical Women in Italy, concluded the panel discussion. In her speech, she reiterated the role of women in changing religious communities in an inclusive and supportive sense: “Women have made our churches more open to address situations of marginalization and violence, such as gender-based violence, and have brought out feminine aspects of the biblical God.”

Second panel discussion : Women, peace and security

In the third panel discussion, Religious Diversity and Society, the speakers, on the basis of their experience, discussed the positive and negative sides of the relationship between religious communities and institutions and the ways in which different organizations are active in society in the service of others. Discussing this subject were Mustafa Cenap Aydin, Director of the Tevere Institute in Rome and Vice Secretary General of the International Jacques Maritain Institute (IIJM), Alessandro Dini-Ciacci, Italy’s Head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ataul Wasih Tariq, Vice President of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at in Italy, and Mauro Bombieri, Director of ISKCON Communication Italy and Vice President of the International Association for Krishna Consciousness – Italy.

Third panel discussion: Religious Diversity and Society

The speakers of the fourth and last panel discussion, Interfaith Dialogue and Security, discussed how interreligious dialogue can be an irreplaceable tool to promote peace and security for all. Participating in this session were Prof. Bongiovanni, Professor at the Faculty of Missiology and Director of the Center for Interreligious Studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Giuseppe Calì, President of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification - Italy, Mariangela Falà, President of Tavolo Interreligioso of Rome and of the Maitreya Foundation, and Francesca Evangelisti, member of the Globalization and Environment Commission (GLAM) of the FCEI, who illustrated the activities of the GLAM in promoting sharing, cooperation and the concrete actions to protect the Creation through different traditions.

Fourth panel discussion: Interfaith Dialogue and Security

In her conclusion, the Director stated that, while not aiming to go into every aspect of the OSCE document, the conference nevertheless highlighted some useful issues for further study in the different directions and contents emerging in the OSCE Guidelines.  LIREC will certainly continue on this path in the hope of involving other bodies, associations and organizations in order to create a network of collaborations that will spread the ideas and values discussed like wildfire and transform them into actions and projects that promote freedom and security, dialogue and inclusion, locally, within communities and institutions and in the world of communication and culture.

R. Di Marzio, Director of LIREC, concludes the Conference