tolerance and non-discrimination

The article presents an interpretation of the final document of the International Consultative Conference on School Education in relation to Freedom of Religion and Belief, Tolerance and Non-Discrimination. Beginning by an analysis of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination based on Religion and Belief and showing the internal and external difficulties that the International Conference had, the article finish tackling the last development on religious freedom that have been approved after the Conference, and with a proposal of some basic principles that should guide the social behaviours in order to promote a true religious freedom, that should be very appropriate to be included in a next United Nations Covenant about this theme.

Key words: Religious freedom: its basic contents and its difficulties. Educational initiatives in order to promote religious freedom. International Consultative Conference on School Education in relation to Freedom of Religion and Belief, Tolerance and Non-Discrimination.

Since the provisions in the Declaration on the elimination of all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief of 1981, the Special Rapporteur on the question of Freedom of Religion and Belief has been monitoring the situation in the field of freedom of religion and belief and has been alerting the international community. In the past, his daily activities have been mainly focused on the manifestations of intolerance and discrimination around the world. Nowadays, he proposes to the Commission on Human Rights and the General Assembly as an issue of the greatest importance to elaborate a prevention strategy in this field.

In that spirit, a consultative international conference on school education in relation with freedom of religion or belief was organised on November 2001 in Madrid. This article explains how the Conference designed 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.

Key words: Religious freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination, religious education, education