We are delighted that our mission is now formally on the international agenda with a motion for a resolution tabled at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which would be a giant step in the journey towards the UN General Assembly.
Arta Bilalli Zendeli from North Macedonia (pictured in the leadin photo with our Founder Salam Sathan) has been appointed as the Rapporteur for The motion in this link, which was tabled by Gerardo Giovagnoli from San Marino and endorsed initially by 40 other members from 19 countries.
The list of the supporting lawmakers includes the German Commissioner for Freedom of Religion or Belief and Chairperson of the Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group Frank Schwabe, Former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and vice presidents of the assembly, Antonio Gutiérrez Limones (Spain), Ingjerd Schou (Norway), and Sibel Arslan (Switzerland).
The motion pointed out that “religious oppression is the most common violation of human rights worldwide. The number of victims is beyond any statistics, not only women, children, religious minorities, but also large sections of the majorities in many countries”.
It recognised that “all existing international conventions related to human rights’ principles and values are still being sidelined by national legislation in many countries. They need crucially to be consolidated and affirmed by a highly focused and more effective new international treaty to combat specifically all forms of discrimination on religious bases”.
The motion called on the “Council of Europe to support inter-governmental procedures to enact such a significant United Nations treaty to make the world more tolerant, fair and peaceful.
The full text of the motion and the endorsements on the website of the Concil of Europe in this link.
BPUR International is a global mission to enact an ‘International Treaty to Ban the Political Use of Religion’ which would be a crucial foundation to disarm extremism and eliminate the root causes of religious conflicts and discrimination without offending any religious group or giving ammunition to the extremists.
It is supported by thousands of legislators, officials, social and religious leaders in more than 80 countries, including the Middle East, Africa and Asia, where it is mostly needed, because of the unique respectful approach to end the cycle of religious conflicts and discrimination.
This mission is not an attempt to separate religion and politics. On the contrary, it considers such separation as irrelevant and could cause irreparable damage to any country. It is aiming to affirm all existing international conventions with a highly focused and more effective new international treaty to combat specifically all forms of oppression and discrimination on religious bases.
Last year, Morocco hosted an international conference for this initiative in Rabat, where delegations from around the world, including Italy, coordinated their effort to support our mission and issued the highly significant Rabat Declaration, calling all governments and the international community to support this initiative on the international stage.
The initial proposed treaty, drafted by leading officials, legislators and prominent UN experts, represents a new approach to introduce clear, simple and indisputable international rules to ban: all political uses of religion that undermine human equality; all religious discrimination in rights and duties; all religious exclusion; and all restrictions to freedom of religion and belief.
All supporters, including hundreds of religious leaders, believe these simple rules would be the ultimate tool to protect all victims of religious oppression and eliminate the root causes of all religious conflicts and many abuses of human rights. Subsequently, it would create functioning societies, enhance stability and open the doors for sustainable development.
