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APPENDIX 1

WORKING PAPER PREPARED BY THE U.N. SECRETARIAT, ENTITLED "DRAFT DECLARATION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE," WHICH CONTAINS THE BASIC WORKING TEXTS BEING USED BY THE COMMISSION'S SESSIONAL WORKING GROUP

INTRODUCTION

1. The General Assembly, at its twenty-eighth session, adopted, on 30 November 1973, resolution 3069 (XXVIII), in which the Assembly,

"Considering that the draft articles prepared by the Working Group set up by the Commission on Human Rights at its twentieth session, and suggestions, comments and amendments thereto presented by Member States, constituted a suitable orientation for the preparation of a draft Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance,

"1. Invites the Economic and Social Council to request the Commission on Human Rights at its next session to consider with priority the elaboration of a draft Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance taking into account observations presented by Governments as well as the opinions expressed, the suggestions put forward and the amendments submitted in the course of the discussion of this question at the twenty-eighth session of the General Assembly, and to submit, if possible, a single draft Declaration to the twenty-ninth session of the General Assembly, through the Economic and Social Council;

"2. Invites Governments to transmit to the Secretary-General their additional comments and suggestions on the said articles and amendments in time for consideration at the next session of the Commission on Human Rights;

"3. Requests the Secretary-General to transmit all the documentation on the subject that was before the General Assembly at its twenty-eighth session to the Commission on Human Rights;

"4. Decides to inscribe this item on the agenda of the twenty-ninth session with a view to consider, complete and adopt, if possible, a Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance."

2. The present document was prepared in compliance with paragraph 3 of the resolution and in order to indicate clearly the present state of consideration of the texts which the General Assembly took as a basis for discussion of the draft Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance.

3. In this connection, it may be useful to recall that the following action was previously taken by United Nations organs on the matter:

(a) In resolution 1781 (XVII) of 7 December 1962, the General Assembly requested the Economic and Social Council to ask the Commission on Human Rights, bearing in mind the views of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities, the debates at the seventeenth session of the General Assembly, any proposals on the matter that might be submitted by Governments and any international instruments already adopted in this field by the specialized agencies, to prepare: (i) a draft declaration on the elimination of all forms of religious intolerance, to be submitted to the Assembly for consideration at its eighteenth session; and (ii) a draft international convention on the elimination of all forms of religious intolerance, to be submitted to the Assembly if possible at its nineteenth session and, in any case, not later than at its twentieth session. The Assembly invited Member States to submit their comments and proposals concerning the draft convention by 15 January 1964;

(b) At its resumed thirty-fourth session, the Economic and Social Council, on 19 December 1962 (1238th meeting), decided to transmit the resolution of the General Assembly to the Commission on Human Rights and to the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities;

(27)

(c) At its nineteenth session, in 1963, the Commission held a preliminary debate on resolution 1781 (XVII) and decided to give priority at its twentieth session to the preparation of a draft declaration on the elimination of all forms of religious intolerance. The Commission requested the Sub-Commission to prepare and submit to the Commission at its twentieth session a preliminary draft of such a declaration, taking into account the views expressed during the debate on the subject at the nineteenth session of the Commission, and requested the SecretaryGeneral to invite the Governments of Member States to submit any proposals which they might wish to make as to the provisions which such a declaration should contain in time for consideration by the Commission at its twentieth session;

(d) The Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities at its sixteenth session, in 1964, prepared and submitted to the Commission a preliminary draft of a United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance," together with other relevant documentation; (e) The Commission, at its twentieth session in 1964, set up a working group to prepare, on the basis of the preliminary draft of the Sub-Commission and all other relevant documentation, a draft declaration of the elimination of all forms of religious intolerance. The working group, however, was able to consider only the first six articles of the text submitted by the Sub-Commission, in relation to which it prepared a provisional text consisting of six articles. It also submitted to the Commission certain alternative texts and proposals. Owing to lack of time, the Commission was unable to adopt a draft declaration on the elimination of all forms of religious intolerance. In resolution 2 (XX), the Commission requested the Secretary-General to transmit to Member Governments for comments the report of the working group and the preliminary draft of a Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance submitted by the Sub-Commission, and to submit to the Economic and Social Council at its thirty-seventh session the comments of Governments as well as the working group's report and the Sub-Commission's draft of a Declaration. The Commission recommended to the Council: "To give such further consideration as it may deem practicable to the drafting of a Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance, in the light of the comments of Governments, and that it transmit the appropriate documents to the General Assembly for consideration at its nineteenth session."

(f) The Council, in resolution 1015 C (XXXVII) of 30 July 1964, decided to refer to the General Assembly resolution 2 (XX) of the Commission, together with the documents mentioned therein, as well as the records of the debate held on the subject at the Council's thirty-ninth session, and suggested to the Assembly that it take a decision on the further course to be followed in the matter. The General Assembly was unable to consider the draft Declaration at its nineteenth session;

(g) The General Assembly, in resolution 2020 (XX) of 1 November 1965, requested the Council to invite the Commission on Human Rights to make every effort to complete, at its twenty-second session, the preparation of the draft Declaration and the draft Convention, in order that they might be submitted to the Assembly at its twenty-first session. The Commission on Human Rights, however, has not considered the preparation of a draft Declaration since its twentieth session;

(h) The General Assembly did not consider the question of the preparation of a draft Declaration from its twenty-first to twenty-sixth sessions, but at its twenty-seventh session, the Assembly adopted resolution 3027 (XXVII) of 18 December 1972 in which it decided to accord priority to the completion of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance before resuming consideration of the draft International Convention on this subject; requested the Secretary-General to transmit to States Members of the United

1 Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, Thirty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 8 (E/3873), chap. X, resolution 10 (XIX). 2 E/CN.4/873, para. 142.

3 See Official Record of the Economic and Social Council, Thirty-seventh Session, Supplement No. 8 (E/3873), chap. III.

Ibid., para. 296.

Ibid., para. 294.

Documents E/SR.1314 and 1338, and E/AC.7/SR.490-496. See also the report of the Economic and Social Council to the General Assembly, Official Records of the General Assembly, Nineteenth Session, Supplement No. 3 (A/5803), chap. IX, sect. II.

Nations or members of specialized agencies the preliminary draft of a United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance prepared by the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and the report of the Working Group set up by the Commission on Human Rights at its twentieth session to prepare a draft Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance; invited Governments to transmit to the Secretary-General their observations on the above-mentioned documents; requested the Secretary-General to submit the observations received, together with an analytical presentation, to the General Assembly at its twentyeighth session and decided to give priority at that session to the elaboration of a Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance with a view to the adoption, if possible, of such a declaration as part of the observance of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; (i) At its twenty-eighth session, the General Assembly considered the question and allocated it to the Third Committee. In connexion with the item, the Third Committee had before it a report containing the observations received from Governments (A/9134 and addenda 1 and 2) and an analytical presentation of the observations received up to 15 August 1973 prepared in accordance with General Assembly resolution 3027 (XXVII). The Committee focused its discussion on the text of the preamble of the draft Declaration prepared by the Sub-Commission and on the text of draft articles prepared by the Working Group as well as amendments thereto. In this connexion, it may be recalled that at the twentieth session of the Commission on Human Rights, the Vice-Chairman of the Working Group, in introducing the report of the Group, stated that the report did not deal with the preamble, in accordance with the practice of the United Nations bodies to deal first with the substantive provisions before drafting the preamble;'

(j) While it was considered during the debate in the Third Committee that the draft articles prepared by the Working Group and the suggestions, comments and amendments thereto presented by Member States, constituted a suitable orientation for the preparation of a draft Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance, the belief was expressed that the matter required additional study. On the unanimous recommendation of the Committee, the General Assembly adopted resolution 3069 (XXVIII).

4. This working paper contains two sections dealing respectively with the present state of consideration of the preamble of the draft Declaration prepared by the Sub-Commission and of the draft articles prepared by the Working Group. Therefore, after reproducing each provision and the amendments thereto which were submitted by representatives of Member States in the course of the debate in the Third Committee of the General Assembly, references are made immediately thereafter (a) to the suggestions and observations transmitted by Governments under resolution 3027 (XXVII) of the General Assembly; (b) to the views expressed by representatives of Member States during the discussion on the matter in the Third Committee; and (c) to the relevant proposals, if any, contained in the report of the Working Group set up by the Commission at its twentieth session.

5. The texts of the preliminary draft of a Declaration prepared by the SubCommission and the relevant parts of the report of the Working Group not reproduced in other parts of this document are set forth in annex I and annex II of the present document, respectively.

6. The observations received from Governments pursuant to the request contained in paragraph 2 of General Assembly resolution 3069 (XXVIII) will be distributed in document E/CN.4/1146.

7. In accordance with paragraph 3 of the resolution, the following documents, which were before the General Assembly at its twenty-eighth session, will be made available to the Commission :

(a) Document A/9134 and Add. 1 and 2, containing the substantive observations of the following 25 Governments on the Sub-Commission's preliminary draft of a Declaration and on the report of the Commission's Working Group: Austria, Brazil, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Canada, Egypt, Finland, Greece, Holy See, India, Iraq, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Singapore, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, Togo, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America and Zambia.

7 Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, Thirty-seventh Session, Supplement No. 8 (E/3873), chap. III, para, 297.

(b) Document A/9135, containing an analytical presentation of the observations contained in document A/9134. The document is divided into two sections: in section II A, observations of a general character are summarized; in section II B, observations concerning the texts prepared by the Sub-Commission and by the Working Group are set out provision by provision. In this connexion, it will be recalled that the Working Group used as a basis for its discussion the preliminary draft submitted by the Sub-Commission, but was able to take into consideration only six articles of that draft. Moreover, as a result of modifications made by the Working Group, the articles which it prepared did not in all cases correspond to those contained in the Sub-Commission's preliminary draft. For purposes of clarity, the Secretary-General in document A/9135 used the SubCommission's draft as a basis for the analytical presentation; before summarizing the comments on each provision, the text prepared by the Sub-Commission was reproduced first and the corresponding text submitted by the Working Group, if any, is reproduced immediately thereafter.

(c) A document containing the summary records of the discussion at the 2006th, 2009th to 2014th meetings of the Third Committee during the twentyeighth session of the General Assembly.

I. AMENDMENTS, OBSERVATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS RELATING TO THE PREAMBLE OF THE TEXT PREPARED BY THE SUB-COMMISSION

8. As indicated in paragraph 3(i) above, the Third Committee of the General Assembly used the text prepared by the Sub-Commission as a basis for its consideration of the preamble of a draft Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance.

TITLE

9. The title of the draft Declaration, as it appears in the texts prepared by the Sub-Commission and by the Working Group reads as follows: "United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance."

10. The following amendment was submitted: Morocco proposed (A/C.3/ L.2029) that the title of the draft Declaration should read as follows: "Draft International Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination based on Religion or Belief."

11. Suggestions and observations relating to the title were made by Austria (A/9134 and A/9135, paragraph 6); Brazil and Morocco (A/C.3/SR.2010; Morocco (A/C.3/SR.2012).

PREAMBLE

12. In the text submitted by the Sub-Commission, the preamble reads as follows: "The General Assembly:

"Considering that the Charter of the United Nations is based on the principles of the dignity and equality of all human beings and seeks, among other basic objectives, to achieve international co-operation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion,

"Considering that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the Declaration, without distinction of any kind, in particular as to race, colour, religion or national origin, "Considering that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims further that all are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law and that all are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination and against any incitement to such discrimination.

"Considering further that the right of everyone to freedom of thought, conscience and religion has been proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which right includes freedom to change one's religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest one's religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship or observance.

"Noting that the disregard of human rights and fundamental freedoms through discrimination because of religion and the denial of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion has brought in the past untold sorrow to mankind by inflicting grievous suffering on those who were its victims and in injuring those responsible for them,

1 "Considering that in order to eliminate and prevent all such forms of religious intolerance it is vital for Governments to take legislative, educational and other

measures to that end, and for organizations and private persons to lend their fullest support to the achievement of this objective,

“Convinced that the building of a world society free from all forms of religious intolerance is one of the fundamental objectives of the United Nations,

"Solemnly affirms the necessity of adopting national and international measures to that end and in order to secure the universal and effective recognition and observances of the principles set forth below and

"Proclaims this declaration:"

13. The following amendment was submitted: Canada proposed (A/C.3/ L.2031) to amend the end of the second preambular paragraph to read "without distinction of any kind, in particular as to race, colour, sex, religion or national origin".

14. Suggestions and observations relating to the fourth preambular paragraph were made by the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (A/C.3/SR.2012). 15. Suggestions and observations relating to the fifth preambular paragraph were made by Austria and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (A/9134 and A/9135, paragraph 8), the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the German Democratic Republic, the Philippines, Italy and Morocco (A/C.3/SR. 2012).

16. Suggestions and observations relating to the sixth preambular paragraph were made by Austria (A/9134 and A/9135, paragraph 8) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (A/C.3/SR 2012).

17. Suggestions and observations relating to the seventh preambular paragraph were made by Austria (A/9134 and A/9135, paragraph 8), the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Ghana, Iraq, the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Morocco (A/C.3/SR.2012).

18. Suggestions and observations relating to the eighth and ninth preambular paragraphs were made by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (A/S3/ SR.2012).

19. Suggestions and observations relating to additional preambular paragraphs were made by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (A/9135, paragraph 9) and by the Holy See (A/9134/Add.2).

II. AMENDMENTS, OBSERVATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS RELATING TO THE DRAFT ARTICLES PREPARED BY THE WORKING GROUP SET UP BY THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AT ITS TWENTIETH SESSION

20. As indicated in paragraph 3(i) above, the Third Committee used the text prepared by the Working Group as a basis for its consideration of the substantive provisions of a draft Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance.

ARTICLE I

21. Article I of the text submitted by the Working Group reads as follows: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to adhere or not to adhere to any religion or [to any religious or non-religious] belief and to change his religion or belief in accordance with the dictates of his conscience, without being subjected to any coercion likely to impair his freedom of choice or decision in the matter."

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22. The following amendments to the above-mentioned text were submitted: (a) Netherlands proposed (A/C.3/L.2027) to delete the words in square brackets, "to any religious or non-religious”, and to add the following sentence at the end of the article: "The expression 'religion or belief' shall include theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs."

(b) Morocco submitted a subamendment (A/C.3/L.2041) whereby the second sentence of the amendments to article I submitted by the Netherlands in document A/C.3/L.2027 would read as follows: "The expression 'belief' shall include non-theistic and atheistic beliefs."

(c) The German Democratic Republic and Poland proposed (A/C.3/L.2033): (i) to replace the words "to adhere or not to adhere to any religion or belief" by "to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice"; (ii) to add the following sentence at the end of the article: "The expression 'religion or belief' shall include theistic or non-theistic beliefs and atheistic convictions, it shall exclude racism, nazism, apartheid and all similar ideologies which are based

The words in brackets are those on which no agreement was reached in the Working Group.

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