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SUBJECT:
Tolerance and non-discrimination in
relation with freedom of religion and belief in primary or
elementary and secondary education.
ORGANIZER:
The United
Nations Special Rapporteur on the question of religious intolerance
in cooperation with the Government of Spain.
PURPOSE:
Design of an
international educational strategy focused on the right to freedom
of religion and belief among pupils of the age corresponding to
primary or elementary and secondary educational levels. The
Conference aim is to examine a project of a document which defines a
set of recommendations in support of some outlines for the
establishment of curricula and text books relating to tolerance and
non-discrimination in the field of religion and belief; taking into
account article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Right,
article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and the provisions on the Declaration on the elimination of
all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or
belief.
As
deplored by the Commission on Human Rights, the General Assembly and
the Special Rapporteur, intolerance and discrimination based on
religion and belief continue to manifest themselves all over the
world. In order to combat these phenomena, the Special Rapporteur on
religious intolerance has been monitoring the situation in the field
of freedom of religion and belief and has been alerting the
international community. However, his daily activities have been
mainly focused on the manifestations of intolerance and
discrimination and not on their prevention. The Special Rapporteur
and the Government of Spain propose as an issue of the greatest
importance to elaborate a prevention strategy in this field.
The
Special Rapporteur conducted a survey in 1994 by means of a
questionnaire addressed to States, on problems relating to freedom
of religion and belief in primary or elementary and secondary
educational institutions. Replies given by seventy seven States can
become one more subject for discussion.
The
question of prevention of intolerance and discrimination based on
religion or belief at primary or elementary and secondary
educational levels has therefore to be clearly raised and carefully
examined. In that spirit, a consultative international conference on
school education in relation with freedom of religion or belief is
organised.
OBJECTIVE:
To prepare
recommendations to be discussed and adopted by the Conference on
25th November 2001, that corresponds with the 2Oth anniversary of
the adoption of the United Nations 1981 Declaration on the
Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based
on Religion of Belief.
PARTICIPANTS:
Representatives of State,
intergovernmental organisations, major religions and other
communities in the field of religion and belief, non-governmental
organisations, and experts.
PROCEEDINGS:
By means of
preparatory consultation and discussion during the Conference aimed
at the protection against intolerance and discrimination and the
improvement of human rights protection, in particular the right to
freedom of religion or belief.
For any
further information, please contact the Office of the Special
Rapporteur on the question of religious intolerance (Geneva, Tel.:
41.22.917.9705, fax: 41.22.9179006, e-mail: arinaldi.hchr@unog.ch) or
the Permanent Mission of Spain (Geneva, Tel.: 41.22.7312230, Fax:
41.22.7315370). | 
