ORAL STATEMENT
Humanists International
61st Session of the UN Human Rights Council (23rd February – 31st March 2026)
Item 8: Follow-up and implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
Speaker: Harry Linley
Thank you Mr President.
The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action calls on “all States to put into practice the provisions of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief.”[1]
The 1981 Declaration emphasizes the need to strictly prohibit the misuse of religion to violate the UN Charter or other UN principles.[2]
However, we are seeing an alarming rise in the use of the language of “religious freedom” to undermine numerous established human rights. Increasingly, the right to FoRB is being instrumentalised by certain state and non-state actors to roll back the clock on equality. We see this in efforts to curtail the rights of women and girls, to deny sexual and reproductive health rights, and to justify systemic discrimination against marginalized groups, including LGBTI+ individuals.
These efforts are coordinated and well-funded, and not confined to one religion or belief.
In the same vein, the rise of religious nationalism is greatly concerning. When one state attaches itself to exclusionary interpretations of religion, it is more likely that other states of different religions will do the same. People from minority religions or of no religion are the most likely to be victimized.
We must return to the Vienna Declaration’s affirmation that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent, and interrelated.[3]
Thank you.
[1] https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/vienna-declaration-and-programme-action, Para 22
[2] https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/declaration-elimination-all-forms-intolerance-and-discrimination, Preamble, Para 5
[3] https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/vienna-declaration-and-programme-action, Para 5
'Against the instrumentalization of the right to freedom of religion or belief', Humanists International