Council of Europe‘ s Parliamentary Assembly:
Women and Religion in
Europe
Rapporteur: Mrs Rosmarie Zapfl-Hebling, Switzerland, Sept. 2005
Résumé for the NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion and Belief
submitted by Leila Seigel and Léonie de Picciotto, (ICJW)
Council of Europe member States
must:
1. protect women against violations of their
rights in the name of religion.
2. take a stand against violations of
women’s rights justified by cultural or religious relativism, including in
international fora such as the UN etc.
3. Ensure that freedom of religion
and respect for culture and tradition are not accepted as a pretext to violate
women’s rights.
4. Certain Fundamental rights are
in conflict with each other (freedom of press & right to privacy). Freedom
of Religion must end when violations of women’s rights begin! Be they subtle,
open, legal or illegal.
5. It is important to ensure that
religious teaching in school fully respect gender equality
principles.
Member
States are called upon:
6. to put in place and enforce
specific effective policies to fight all violations of women’s right to life, bodily
integrity, freedom of movement and free choice of partners., including honor
crimes, genital mutilation and forced marriages.
7. to refuse recognition of
foreign family codes and personal status laws which violate women’s rights, and
cease to apply them on their own soil, renegotiating bilateral treaties if
necessary(France).
8. to take a stand against all
religious doctrine which is anti democratic or disrespectful of human rights,
especially women’s rights, and refuse to allow such doctrines to influence
political decision making.
9. to actively promote women’s
rights, equality and dignity in all areas of life when engaging in dialogue with
religious representatives, and work on achieving gender equality in
society.