Boris Johnson must make religious freedom a priority as foreign secretary, a new report by MPs is urging, as they called on ministers to correct their 'erroneous understanding' of freedom of belief.
Almost 85 per cent of the world's population are linked to a faith and more than 80 per cent live in countries with 'high' or 'very high' levels of hostilities towards certain beliefs, the study by the all-party group on international freedom of religion found.
Despite this, the foreign office does not treat religious freedom with sufficient importance, the report claims, warning the UK has failed to understand how faith can be used to promote violence and conflict.
In a direct challenge to ministers, the report says: 'Only secure and confident societies are able to put their weight behind advancing FoRB [freedom of religion or belief] and there are those who question whether the UK is currently such a society.
'There is no general Government consensus that advancing FoRB will result in more "cohesive communities".
'In fact, there is an erroneous understanding that advancing FoRB empowers religious organisations to conduct inappropriate or illegal activities. This misperception must be challenged and changed.'
Dr Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations' Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion or Belief, warned much more needed to be done to train officials so they can recognise its importance.
'For those living in a secular society where the practice of religion is a minority activity and in which there is no experience of an invader or brutal dictator within living memory, it can be hard to appreciate the scale of religious persecution overseas and the importance of human rights such as the right to freedom of religion or belief,' he said.
As well as addressing issues at home, the MPs say freedom of religion must be a foreign policy priority as it warns 'the scale of violations remains enormous'.
The MPs say: 'There has certainly been no decrease in FoRB violations globally. Indeed, between 2013 and 2017, the situation appears to have worsened.'
They add: 'There is no one type of perpetrator or victim. Belief groups that face persecution in one country may be the persecutors in others.'
Current concerns include using school textbooks containing discriminatory material and hate speech, blasphemy charges resulting in prison and death sentences and the use of anti-terrorism or extremism' legislation to restrict religious group members.
They call for the overseas aid budget to be partially redirected to the foreign office and used to advance religious freedom.
Warning of a the lack of expertise among foreign office officials, the report calls on the government to increase religious literacy among embassy staff and civil servants and 'ensure that aid is channelled to organisations and programmes that support and demonstrate a clear understanding of FoRB'.
Dr Shaheed urged Boris Johnson to implement the report's recommendations.
'This report comes at a time when acts of intolerance involving religion or belief are on the rise globally,' he said in the report's foreward. 'A climate of intolerance is being fostered in many nations by xenophobic and nativist narratives, which are also de-sensitising the general public to dangerous practices such as stigmatisation and incitement to hostility against those with different beliefs. An alarming trend has also emerged within many States with Governments' and officials' politicisation and securitisation of religion or belief, utilising them as a means to promote identity politics and justify restricting the right to freedom of religion or belief.
'Violations of freedom of religion or belief are truly global, occurring in most continents and in many different cultures - from the potential crimes against humanity being committed against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and genocide against vulnerable Iraqi religious groups such as Yazidis, Shabak, Shi'a Muslims and Christians to the banning of religious groups including Jehovah's Witnesses,' he wrote.
'I urge the UK and other Governments to give serious consideration to implementing what is laid out in this report.'
