Experts have shared their solutions to some of the challenges governments around the world face in countering radicalisation and extremism and advancing liberty, with the release this week of the 7th Liberal International Human Rights Bulletin. The Bulletin focuses on one the LI Human Rights Committee’s core priorities of securing and promoting equal rights both for the religious and non-religious peoples.
Writing about the complexity of these two dimensions under the principle of freedom of belief, Member of LI Human Rights Committee and Former Member of Parliament Boris Van Der Ham (D66, LI full-member), said:
Liberals should be active in trying to get rid of legislation that is harmful against the non-religious or to the expression of non-religious views. However it is not be possible to ‘fix’ this problem with new legislation alone. Liberals should also take a stance against social exclusion which often occurs in orthodox religious environments even if there is suffiicient legal protection in place.
The Bulletin provides further insight into the issues by presenting several video interviews, where participants at the most recent LI HRC Meeting including the Mayor of the Molenbeek minicipality in Brussels Francoise Schepmans (Mouvement Reformateur, LI full-member), discuss the challenges when it comes to deradicalization including fighting against stigmatization of religious and in particular Muslim minority groups.
Stressing on the importance of multi-cultural and inter-faith dialogues in order to further integration in communities where social exclusion drives radicalization Mayor Schepmans said:
The Molenbeek Cultural Center is a place where there are lots of activities and meetings, for children and adults. It is a venue for life and we are trying to encourage the public to meet here. Therefore I’m thrilled and very proud that Liberal International has come all the way to visit Molenbeek, to the center of the community, in order to have a dialogue and allow the exchange of expertise with me, and the rest of the actors behind the scene. This allows to better understand the situation in Molenbeek, which permits to move forward with specific ideas to abolish radicalization.
Experts gathered at the Liberal International freedom of belief conference in the European Parliament share their experience and visions for creating a more liberal world.
Gathering a diverse set of Liberal International Human Rights Committee (LIHRC) members, liberal politicians and representatives from across the civil society sector in Brussels, the LI Human Rights Committee met for the second time in 2016 to discuss freedom of belief in an era of radicalization.
The event was hosted by the Mayor of Molenbeek Francoise Schepmans and LI HRC Member and Member of the European Parliament Ilhan Kyuchyuk MEP at the Cultural Center of Molenbeek and the European Parliament just days ahead of International Human Rights Day. Partners to the event were the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF, LI Cooperating Organisation), the ALDE Party (LI Cooperating Organisation) and ALDE Group (LI Full-member).
Promoting and advancing freedom of belief is one of the core priority work areas of LI Human Rights Committee.
– Liberals from across the world meet in Molenbeek to exchange experiences in beating radicalisation
Liberals are to take centre-stage as LI prepares to co-host Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy in February.
For a fourth year in a row, Liberal International (LI) is going to co-host the largest gathering of human rights heroes and activists on the eve of the UN Human Rights Council’s main session in Geneva, Switzerland.
In partnership with 24 other non-profit organisations including the main organiser of the event UN Watch (LI full-member) and the International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY, LI full-member), survivors will testify about their experiences shedding light on the worst human rights abusers from around the world.
Chair of the Philippines Human Rights Commission and Member of LI Human Rights Committee (LI HRC) Chito Gascon will address both the opening of the Summit at the United Nations on 20 February and the public session on 21 February, testifying about President Rodrigo Duterte’s unwarranted policy of carrying out extrajudicial killings of drug suspects in the Philippines. This follows the recent announcement by Chair Gascon that the human rights watchdog led by him will investigate claims by the President that he personally killed drug suspects while mayor of Davao.
As the LI human rights programme concludes one of its most productive years on record, the pace of activity is set to continue throughout 2017. Take a look below at some of the prospective events and activities that we are planning and let us know if you would like to be involved.
In addition to four new editions of the LI Human Rights Bulletin and the awarding of the 2017 LI Prize for Freedom, the Liberal International Human Rights Committee will be engaged in the following events and meetings:
February:
March:
May
June
August
September
October
December
