Annual report 2021

In 2021, we established the NHC Centre for Freedom of Religion or Belief and further strengthened our work on freedom of religion or belief with the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief (IPPFoRB) and Freedom of Religion or Belief Initiative Turkey (FoBI).

- Having an established Centre with projects that work to advance freedom of religion or belief for everyone, everywhere with various stakeholders such as parliamentarians, civil society and international institutions shows NHC’s long-standing commitment to this human right, says Liv Hernæs Kvanvig, Director of IPPFoRB and Head of NHC Centre for Freedom of Religion or Belief.

This year, IPPFoRB in partnership with FoRBLN, Religions for Peace, Danish Institute for Human Rights, AfriPAHR and UN’s Faith for Rights organized monthly ‘High-level Dialogues on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Sustainable Development Goals’. The series provided space to deliberate on the intersections between freedom of religion or belief and select SDGs on gender equality, education, health, civic space, and climate action.

- Almost 250 parliamentarians, civil society representatives, and faith leaders from around the world participated in the series. This platform gave them the opportunity to interact with each other during regional and national discussions to identify gaps and potential actions with regards to context-specific challenges. Our aim was to give space to emerging wisdom from the regional and national level. We are currently planning future work that will build on the enthusiasm and commitment of participants, adds Kvanvig.

During the year, we also published the Roadmap on Freedom of Religion or Belief in the Western Balkans. With a focus on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia and North Macedonia, parliamentarians who participated in the launch of the report publicly described it as a ‘starting point’ for them to increase the impact of their work in promoting freedom of religion or belief in the region.

The second project at the Centre, FoBI Turkey has continued its persistent monitoring and advocacy activities on promoting freedom of religion or belief in Turkey. Through submissions, we engaged with international human rights compliance control mechanisms, particularly the UN Human Rights Committee and the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, on important freedom of religion or belief issues. 

- To increase the visibility of hate crimes motivated by bias towards persons or groups on account of their religion or belief in Turkey, we published “Hate Crimes Motivated by Bias Based on Religion and Belief in Turkey 2020” report. In the light of the findings of this report, a parliamentary question on hate crimes was proposed in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, remarks Dr. Mine Yıldırım, Head of Freedom of Belief Initiative. In addition, the monitoring data on these hate crimes were sent to OSCE/ODIHR and this data was published in their “2020 Hate Crime Report”.

We also organized webinars, hosting experts from the field and focusing on topics from antisemitism to the relationship of freedom of religion or belief with freedom of expression and gender equality, as well as the implementation of important ECtHR judgments. “Thanks to the space provided by these webinars we had the opportunity to discuss context-based challenges to the effective protection of freedom of belief in Turkey with the participation of a wide range of actors from different parts of Turkey and beyond”, adds Dr. Yıldırım.