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Mr. Leo Igwe, West Africa representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union has called on the African Commission to urgently take steps to address many religion-related human rights abuses in Africa and to pressure African states to eliminate all forms of discrimination on the basis of religion or belief. Mr. Igwe made this call yesterday at a press briefing held at the Laico Atlantic Hotel in Banjul.
According to him, at the 47th session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, the International Humanist and Ethical Union wished to draw the attention of the media and other stakeholders on human rights to the situation of religious liberty in Africa. According to him, Africa is often described as a deeply religious society and most Africans profess one religion or the other. He said that there is a high level of piety on the continent. “A recent study by Pew Research Forum on Religion and Public Life says that Africans are among the most religious people on earth.”
“This perspective has often made some people think that Africa is a ‘heaven’ of religious liberty. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Instead, in Africa there is lack of freedom of conscience in most countries. African states lack the political will to uphold this basic human right and address human rights abuses that are committed in the name of religion. In fact what we are experiencing in many African states is a state sponsored abuse, persecution and discrimination in the name of religion or belief,” he noted.
Mr. Igwe said that freedom of conscience is a human right enshrined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 8 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. Its provision in these international human rights instruments, he added, underscores the importance in the realization of peace, justice and harmony in the world. “At a time when many countries like Nigeria, Sudan, and Uganda in Africa are grappling with conflicts that are aided and abetted by religion; at a time when faith based terrorism threatens global peace and security, it is important that all stakeholders on human rights take seriously the promotion and protection of religious freedom.”
Speaking further, Igwe said religious liberty is not only about freedom to profess a religion but also freedom to change one’s religion and freedom to profess no religion at all. It is not the states who tell individuals the religion to profess or what to belief or not to believe, it is not the government that chooses religion for the citizens, the states should then not give special privilege to any religion, he argued.
According to him, pressuring individuals to be religious and to remain religious goes with egregious human rights violations which he said are often ignored by the states. He bemoaned the fact that recently the government of Morocco expelled Christian missionaries from the country, accusing them of forcefully converting children to Christianity.
“In all the cases, those who are most affected by lack of freedom of conscience in Africa are religious non-believers. They include infidels, atheists, agnostics, humanists and freethinkers and others who choose not to profess any religion or belief. Non religious people in Africa lack the free space to exercise their rights and freedoms like other human beings. Religious nonbelievers have been at the receiving end of the abuses, persecution and discrimination drapes. Apostasy and blasphemy are crimes sometimes punishable by death in many African countries. In Mali, Nigeria, Mauritania, Egypt, Somalia etc, women and children’s rights, and the process abolition of the death penalty are undermined by religious (sharia) law.”
He therefore said that the African Commission should raise issues concerning freedom of religion or belief during their official visits and when examining the periodic reports of state parties. He concluded by saying that the African Commission should adopt special mechanisms to promote and protect freedom of conscience in Africa.