IACHR Publishes Report on Inter-American Standards Concerning Freedom of Religion or Belief

February 14, 2024

Washington, D.C. – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has released the report Inter-American Standards Concerning Freedom of Religion or Belief, in compliance with the mandate it received from the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) and with Articles 13 and 58 of the IACHR's own Rules of Procedure.

The right to freedom of religion or belief is held in the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (Article III) and in the American Convention on Human Rights (Article 12).

In the Americas, there have been several violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief, linked to other human rights and affecting various vulnerable groups. The report presents the views on this right held by various institutions in the Inter-American Human Rights System (the IACHR and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights), from a perspective that stresses the universal, inalienable, indivisible, and interdependent nature of human rights.

The methodology adopted in the report included a systematic review and an analysis of standards held in various other reports (merits reports, country reports, thematic reports, annual reports, and others) and in other documents (resolutions, principles, declarations, etc.) that have been approved and published by the IACHR, as well as in relevant decisions and advisory opinions issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Positions held in press releases are also mentioned regarding topics that are yet to be addressed in detail in thematic or country reports or reports issued within the petition and case system. The report also incorporates admissibility reports where the IACHR has found that the events in question might amount prima facie to violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief.

The process of drafting this report incorporated gender and ethnic-racial perspectives and an intersectionality perspective, to reflect the different realities faced by different groups as they exercise this human right in the Americas.

This report brings together jurisprudence on freedom of religion or belief at the IACHR and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which is binding, as well as advisory opinions issued by the Court and other IACHR statements with different legal scopes.

Finally, this report complements the standards concerning freedom of religion or belief that have been developed in the international human rights system. The IACHR thanks UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Nazila Ghanea for her contributions.

With the publication of this report, which is the outcome of impartial and technically rigorous studies, the IACHR seeks to make its own contribution to debates that are necessary to ensure more respect and better guarantees concerning the right to freedom of religion or belief in plural and democratic societies.

A principal, autonomous body of the OAS, the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 032/24

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