Hoheneder Islam and Politics in Indonesia. Freedom of Religion or Belief and the influence of Islamic actors

1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-3-96067-719-2
Verlag: Diplomica Verlag
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 88 Seiten

In most Islamic societies, freedom of religion or belief is not a reality for religious minorities. Indonesia, home of the biggest Muslim population in the world, is a positive exception in this regard. The country was always a role model for the peaceful co-existence of diverse religious and cultural traditions, but in recent years, Islamic fundamentalist groups challenge the country’s tolerant and pluralistic identity. This book inquires the development of freedom of religion or belief from a political, legal and religious perspective. It analyzes the laws and mechanisms that protect the rights of minorities and traces the role of the country’s most important Islamic organizations and the influence they have on national policy-making. It finally points out possible future developments and how the government can counter the threat of militant Islamism and preserve Indonesia’s tolerant traditions.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hoheneder, Tobias

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religion & Politik, Religionsfreiheit
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Politik & Religion, Religionsfreiheit
• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Geschichte des Islam Geschichte des Islam: 20./21. Jahrhundert
• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Der Islam und die Moderne (Westliche) Welt
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien Theokratische und religiöse Ideologien

Leseproben

Chapter 2.1: The history of the international human rights regime:

While the general idea of some form of human rights that protect the rights and dignity of individuals can be traced back well into the past, the history of the concept of universal human rights as a leading motive in international law as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which this paper is concerned with, is quite recent. After the end of the Second World War the need for an international system of binding rules that could secure peace and grant the individual more protection became evident. In 1945 the United Nations (UN) were created as a reaction to this need. There have been other inter-governmental organizations before like the League of Nations, but this was created out of a context of the colonization of large parts of the African, Asian and Pacific world by European powers. There were also other international movements and organizations fighting for labor rights, women’s rights, self-determination and other issues, that predated the founding of the UN. The preamble of the charter of the United Nations states, among other goals, the maintenance of peace and security and the promotion of human rights as its purpose. Its first article adds as its purpose:

‘To achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion’.
To amplify the goals of the UN charter, the world leaders gathered in the UN decided to put forward a declaration that would enshrine the protection of human rights. After some preliminary work done by a Philosophers’ Committee to ‘identify key theoretical issues in framing a charter of rights for all peoples and nations’ in 1946, the UN Commission on Human Rights started drafting a declaration in January 1947. This work was then moved to a formal drafting committee consisting of 18 members from eight member states, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, the widow of the US American President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Commission decided that they would develop a declaration and not a legally binding treaty that would, hopefully, ‘inspirational, energizing and broadly accessible to peoples everywhere’ and that it should include civil and political rights as well as social and economic rights. After several revisions that reflected the discussions and objections from different member states, the General Assembly (the main body of the UN in which all member states are represented and have a voting right), voted to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10, 1948. Today the UDHR is considered a major step in human history and an unprecedented effort in peace-keeping and embodiment of human rights standards.
2.1.1: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

The UDHR marked the starting point for changes in the field of international politics and cooperation. While the UDHR itself is not a binding treaty, two international covenants were built on it: The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) devised in 1966, as well as subsequent human rights treaties and treaties bodies, which together shaped the international human rights regime. These two covenants, which have legally binding status in international law, together with the UDHR form the International Bill of Human Rights. The UDHR itself is not binding, but it is vital in the sense that it provides a framework for the discussion and discerning of human rights on a global scale, marked by the ‘common understanding’ of human rights presented in the preamble of the UDHR. Even if different nations disagree with its formulations, it provides a structure for these arguments, helping to foster the idea that there are basic human rights, no matter how contested some might be in different contexts, on an international level and helping to promote human rights obligations. One success of the International Bill of Rights is that, in many countries, most of its provisions are formulated as national law, proving that the setting of standards, binding and non-binding, leads to a higher acceptance and willingness to adapt these standards. Considering the fact that international human rights law undermines national law and therefore constrains national sovereignty, the question arises why the vast majority of states are willing to ratify human rights treaties. Some researchers argue that the reason is that committing to international treaties contributes to the legitimacy of a state in the international community, indicating that there is a normative ‘soft pressure’ to play by the same rules if a country wants to act on eye level with other nations in the international political arena.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights encompasses the most fundamental rights that human beings possess. These are based on the ‘inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family’, marking human rights as a secular concept without religious connotations, that each human being deserves solely because of the fact of being part of the human family. Its second base is the concept of universalism, the United Nations formulated the UDHR as a concept that is universally valid without difference to men and women in each region and culture of the world. The concept of universal validity of human rights is confronted with the idea of the relativity of human rights. This idea postulates that all moral values are only a product of the culture and religion in which they emerged, and can only claim validity in their home culture while other cultures might produce different values which are equally valid; therefore human rights are relative to their respective cultures, a view that many Islamic states share. The declaration protects fundamental rights and freedoms such as the right to life, liberty and security, protection from torture, equality before the law, the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of opinion and expression, or the right to education and participation.
Similar to the development of the concept of human rights in general, freedom of religion or belief as a right emerged not out of nowhere as part of the Universal Declaration of Independence, but is a product of historical processes. Today the Magna Charta Libertatum, signed by King John of England in 1215, is regarded as the first document mentioning legal positions that are now fundamental rights, including the guarantee of the freedom of the English church. Freedom of religion or belief contains two aspects, the freedom of the individual and the collective rights of religious communities. Other documents of human rights followed that contained the protection of religious freedom and that inspired the UDHR and human rights as we understand them today.
The relevant article of the UDHR in the context of this analysis is Article 18:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
This article lays the foundation upon which all international treaties on the protection of freedom of religion or belief that this paper inquires upon draw.

Über Autor(innen)

Tobias Hoheneder is a scholar on contemporary Islam and politics with a focus on Southeast Asia. After studying in Germany and Indonesia, he received his M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies in 2018.
This book is his first publication.