Today I came across the news organization,Forum 18, based in Oslo, Norway. A news article in the Nov. 2007 Christianity Today magazine reported an accusation of treason (demonstrably false) by Kazakhstan authorities against two Christian pastors. The article credited "Forum 18" for the information and identified Forum 18, as a "news service that tracks religious-rights violations." Since I hadn't heard of Forum 18 before, I looked it up on the internet. On their website I found the following mission statement:
Forum 18 believes that religious freedom is a fundamental human right, which is essential for the dignity of humanity and for true freedom. Forum 18 is committed to religious freedom for all on the basis of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which reads:
"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 may be summarised as:
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief.Forum 18 is an instrument to promote the implementation of
Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and concentrates upon gross and open breaches of religious freedom, especially situations where the lives of individuals or groups are threatened, and where the right to gather based upon belief is threatened.
Forum 18 News Service (F18News) is a Christian initiative which is independent of any one church or religious group. Its independence is safeguarded by a board whose members are Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic Christians, and who are responsible for matters of policy and fundraising. F18News is committed to Jesus Christ's command to do to others what you would have them do to you, and so reports on threats and actions against the religious freedom of all people, regardless of their religious affiliation.
F18News is objective, presenting news in a deliberately calm and balanced fashion, and presenting all sides of a situation. The overriding editorial objective of F18News is to as accurately as possible present the truth of a situation, both implicitly and explicitly.
F18News aims to ensure that threats and actions against religious freedom are truthfully reported as quickly as possible across the world.
I am glad to know of this organization. I have the highest regard
for its mission statement. In the case of Kazakhstan, the C.T. article
pointed out that "Kazakhstan is currently bidding for chairmanship of
the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), a body
that, among other things, upholds human rights, freedom for national
minorities, and democratization. In November 2006 the United States
Commission on International Religious Freedom called on the U.S.
government to reject Kazakhstan's bid because of blatant
religious-rights violations."
We need organizations like Forum 18 to monitor the conduct of governments around the world. Too often high-sounding declarations fail to match practical policy and lived reality.