Strengthening the Interpretation and Implementation of UN Resolution 55/17, Human Rights and a Culture of Peace

Brett G. Scharffs is director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies and Rex E. Lee Chair and Professor of Law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University. The following is a lightly edited version of his remarks given during a panel discussion on Human Rights Council Resolution 55/17, Human Rights and a Culture of Peace, during the 61st Session of the UN Human Rights Council, 4 March 2026, at the Assembly Hall, Palais de Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.

I would like to join others in thanking the High Commissioner for Human Rights for organizing this panel discussion on Human Rights Council Resolution 55/17, Human Rights and a Culture of Peace, adopted two years ago, on 4 April 2024.

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Registering Faith: Recognition, Legal Personality, and Religious Freedom in the Caribbean

Brandon Reece Taylorian is a research fellow at the University of Lancashire (UK).

Introduction

Caribbean states have inherited—and reshaped—colonial approaches to governing religion. Since gaining independence, governments across the region have had to decide what it means to be “secular,” which communities the state treats as legitimate, and what legal steps religious groups must take to operate in public life. Those choices matter for freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) because recognition and registration rules shape who can manifest their beliefs and how, for example, by building places of worship or providing pastoral care in public institutions like hospitals, prisons, and the military.

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Voicing Sharp Religious Opposition to the War in Iran: A Case Study from the Roman Catholic Community

Thomas Massaro, S.J., is McGinley Endowed Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University

As this essay is being written, it has been more than a month since the February 28 outbreak of hostilities between Israel and the U.S. (on one hand) and Iran (on the other hand). Public criticism of the war has been widespread. Political opponents (and even some normally supportive voices) have complained about the evident lack of planning, unclear objectives, and seeming disregard for the consequences of launching this “war of choice.” The shifting justifications for launching the war (including incoherent gestures toward the urgency of regime change and terminating Iran’s looming nuclear capability) have proven broadly unconvincing. The April 1 White House address of President Trump, broadcast in prime TV time, added little clarity.

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