ORAL STATEMENT
Humanists International
63rd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (7 September to 9 October 2026)
General Debate under Item 3: Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development
Speaker: Mythili Mishra
Thank you, Mr. President.
With Syria at a critical juncture, we wish to bring to the Council’s attention some important issues relating to the right to freedom of religion or belief and the Constitutional Declaration, or interim Constitution.
Minorities in Syria have continued to experience persecution and violence since the end of the civil war. There have been reports of recent violence and discrimination against Alawites, Druze and Bedouins, as well as Christians in Syria.[1] Minority religious sites remain threatened by armed conflict, civil unrest, and sectarian vandalism.[2] The transitional authorities have failed to protect religious and belief minorities.
It is in this context that we are deeply concerned about certain provisions of the interim Constitution. Although it enshrines equality before the law and non-discrimination on the basis of religion,[3] it notably excludes belief as a protected characteristic, failing to protect non-religious Syrians. This is exacerbated by the provisions specifying the President’s religion as Islam, and making Islamic jurisprudence the principal source of legislation.[4] The permanent Constitution must replace these provisions with language that explicitly guarantees the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and belief for all, including those with no religious belief.
Constitutional protection of the right to freedom of belief is also qualified as respect for “all divine religions.”[5] We call on Syria to include explicit, justiciable protections for all ethnic and religious minorities in its permanent Constitution, including the right to express and act on non-religious convictions without discrimination or penalty. Laws on apostasy and blasphemy, if retained or introduced, would be fundamentally incompatible with international human rights law.
We hope the future of Syria is inclusive of all Syrians.
Thank you.
[1] https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10429/
[2] https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2026-05/2026%20Syria%20Country%20Update.pdf
[3] Constitutional Declaration of the Syrian Arab Republic, Article 10.
[4] Id, Article 3.
[5] Id.
'Religious and Belief Minorities in the Syrian Constitution', Humanists International