RIGHT TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM LINKED TO ALL OTHER BASIC RIGHTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 7, 2002 (VIS) - Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, secretary for Relations with States and head of the Holy See delegation to the 10th Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, spoke yesterday afternoon in Oporto, Portugal, during the first day of the two-day OSCE meeting. His discourse focussed on respect for religious freedom, which he called a "test for observing fundamental human rights."

In opening remarks, the archbishop noted that "by being actively involved in reflections on current themes such as terrorism, trafficking in human persons, tolerance and discrimination, the OSCE has shown yet again its vocation to form a space of freedom, justice and stability in the perspective of a global understanding of security, specific to our organization."

"Over the past months," he added, "our delegations have often observed that no State, no democracy can work without a certain consensus on the basic values of human existence, among which (are) religious convictions." He stated that he wished to express some concerns of the Holy See on this subject.

"In the year that has just ended," remarked Archbishop Tauran, "there has been an alarming deterioration of the conditions of exercising the right to freedom of religion, in violation of the commitments undertaken by this Organization. In certain countries which are represented here, laws restricting religious freedom have been adopted or are being adopted. Leaders of communities of believers, including a Catholic bishop, have been expelled from the country where they exercise their apostolate or are forbidden from rejoining their faithful."

"Such attitudes," he underscored, "often adopted in an arbitrary manner, show a mistrust with regard to religious facts, a poor knowledge of the role of religion in civil societies, a contempt of international commitments freely signed and a discrimination towards believers." The international commitments, he said, include the documents of the Helsinki process, in particular the final Vienna document of 1989.

"In addition," affirmed Archbishop Tauran, "when, for historical reasons, one religious denomination is the majority denomination and certain rights and privileges are given to it, that could only be to the detriment of the basic freedoms of other denominations present on the national territory."

In his closing remarks, the archbishop quoted from Pope John Paul's speech to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See in January 1989: "'The right to freedom of religion is so closely linked to other basic rights that one could justly say that respect for religious freedom is like a 'test' for the observance of other basic rights'."

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