FoRB Podcast: Justice and Accountability for the Yazidi Genocide Ten Years On

In Episode 4 of The FoRB Podcast, Merilin Kiviorg and Dmytro Vovk invite Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law to discuss political, legal, and social responses to the 2014 Yazidi genocide committed by ISIS. Jocelyn elaborates on the roots of the genocide and addresses the challenges and threats Yazidi communities have faced post-genocide. She also discusses state responsibility and measures, often ineffective, implemented by the Iraqi government and other national and international actors to hold perpetrators accountable. Jocelyn further explains why detention camps for former ISIS members and their families can foster a new circle of violence and how the Yazidi genocide has changed our understanding of international criminal law.

(more…)

Continue Reading FoRB Podcast: Justice and Accountability for the Yazidi Genocide Ten Years On

Religious Freedom and Peacemaking

Knox Thames is a senior fellow at Pepperdine University and a senior visiting expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace. The following post comprises his remarks during a panel on “Understanding Religious Freedom: Why Does It Matter?” at the ICLRS 31st Annual International Law and Religion Symposium, 7 October 2024. Portions of his remarks were drawn from his book Ending Persecution: Charting the Global Path to Religious Freedom (Notre Dame Press 2024).

Introduction

There can be no durable peace without religious freedom. There may be the cold peace of a cessation of hostilities. However, lasting peace will not come until people can live together, recognizing the rights of their neighbors to pursue truth as their conscience leads without fear of discrimination or violence.

(more…)

Continue Reading Religious Freedom and Peacemaking

A Promise of Human Freedom: Synergies Between the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief and LGBTQI+ Rights

Marie Juul Petersen is a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights.

Dmytro Vovk is a visiting professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

A version of this blog post appeared previously on Open Global Rights.

In June 2023, the UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) presented his report on SOGI-related violence and discrimination and the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB).

The report is much needed, as the relationship between FoRB and rights related to sexual orientation and gender identity is widely seen as one of antagonism and controversy by both FoRB actors and the LGBTQI+ community. At the same time, both rights are crucial for ensuring individuals’ freedom to live their own lives in the manner they choose. This has been emphasised by the UN Special Rapporteur on FoRB, together with other UN Special Rapporteurs, in a 2021 joint statement asserting that “the right to freedom of religion or belief and the right to live free from violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity are both built on a promise of human freedom.”

(more…)

Continue Reading A Promise of Human Freedom: Synergies Between the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief and LGBTQI+ Rights