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Freedom of Religion

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Submitted By janahana
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Has the UN General Assembly Declaration of Human Rights, made on the 10th December 1948, stood the test of time? A short essay focusing on freedom of religion.
Introduction
“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.” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 18, http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml, accessed 14th March 2014)
This essay will show that the rights protected in Article 18 - as with many other Articles of the UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) are protected to varying degrees – to not at all, depending on where you live, the level of democracy in your society, culture and lastly; external factors that dominate ordinary democratic processes and because of the forces applied by the geopolitical and economic forces of the day.
The essay will show this by illustrating often controversial and disputed examples of violation on religious freedom in France, Saudi Arabia and Burma (Maynamar) and testing the principles of UDHR on those cases whilst also considering the socio-economic and political drivers. Simply defining human rights and its elements can be complex. This is shown in the minor disagreement between the drafters of the UDHR as described later below.
This essay will also use the European Convention of Human Rights and UN Resolution 36/55 - UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief as a yard stick to also measure and show religious intolerance in the above cases.
Drafting UDHR
The end of the Second World War ushered in a period global self-reflection at the horror inflicted on millions of

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