From a human rights perspective, FoRB is not about protection of conservative or patriarchal religious traditions and values. The process grows out of a recognition of the need for normative clarification of FoRB and its relationship with gender equality. The process is organised by the Danish Institute for Human Rights and the Stefanus Alliance International, in cooperation with the UN Special Rapporteur on FoRB, and the UN Interagency Task Force on Religion and Development, co-led in this effort by the OHCHR and UNFPA, and it is funded by the Danish and Norwegian Ministries of Foreign Affairs. Through a series of workshops, the experts have explored the nexus between FoRB and gender equality in relation to different SDGs, formulating recommendations and concrete suggestions for action in each of these contexts. The process involves a diverse range of secular and faith-based experts from different institutional, professional, religious and geographic backgrounds and with expertise in different areas. The Expert Consultation Process on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Gender Equality and the Sustainable Development Goals seeks to address these challenges. This antagonistic construction of the two human rights norms has consequences, not only in terms of legal protection gaps, but also in terms of a lack of understanding of and sensitivity to the needs, wishes, experiences and specific vulnerabilities of the many millions of people “whose life situations falls within the intersection of discrimination on the grounds of their religion or belief and discrimination on the ground of their gender.” For some, this means that FoRB is seen as an inherent obstacle to achieving gender equality for others, gender equality is seen as a threat to the protection of religious values and practices. ![]() Underlying this (mis)perception of a normative clash between the two is very often an understanding of FoRB as a right that protects religion – and often conservative, patriarchal religion. In fact, rights related to FoRB and gender equality are often seen to be in contradiction with one another. Despite obvious overlaps, actors working for the promotion of respectively FoRB and gender equality rarely work together. These are just three examples of the many ways in which restrictions of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and gender equality intersect. In France, the ban on full-face veils disproportionately affects Muslim women’s right to manifest their religion or belief. ![]() marriage, divorce and custody of children discriminate not only against women, but also religious minorities, leaving religious minority women as victims of double discrimination. In Egypt, religiously justified family laws on e.g. In China, women from the Muslim Uighur minority are allegedly subject to rape and forced sterilisation in the so-called ‘re-education camps’ where hundreds of thousands of people are detained solely because of their religious affiliation.
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