LAUNCHING THE COMMONWEALTH INITIATIVE ON FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF


REACHING OUT AT CHOGM 2015: LAUNCHING THE COMMONWEALTH INITIATIVE ON FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF


Baroness Elizabeth Berridge is a Member of the UK Parliament’s Upper House and Co-Director of the Commonwealth Initiative for Freedom of Religion or Belief. She Co-Chairs the All- Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief and sits on the Select Committee for Social Mobility and the Ecclesiastical Committee. Additionally, she is a member of the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief.


‘Pack an umbrella’ was top of the list as I prepared to go to Malta along with a resolve to meet and discuss CIFoRB with as many Commonwealth Parliamentarians and human rights contacts, as possible in the meetings and corridors of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). I had visited Malta once before for a week’s holiday in November and spent a happy but very wet week playing canasta and watching DVDs, so besides unpredictable weather and the stunning, ‘history rich’ Maltese landscape I was not sure what to expect from my first ‘CHOGM’ and in fact my first contact with any form of multi- lateral meeting since joining the UK House of Lords in January 2011.


Although we had only just begun work, attending CHOGM was vital to see what the vision would be under the next Secretary-General. I was so glad that I went as it was a rich experience particularly in my role as co-project director of the Commonwealth Initiative on Freedom of Religion or Belief which is my main Commonwealth connection, so if I had had the time to send postcards home from Malta these would have been the themes.


66 | The Parliamentarian | 2016: Issue One


The reason for the journey… CIFoRB


CIFoRB stands for the Commonwealth Initiative for Freedom of Religion or Belief and is based in the Edward Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion at the University of Birmingham. The initiative seeks to empower Parliamentarians to promote and protect freedom of religion or belief through research, education and advocacy. With the focus of the Commonwealth this year on being ‘an inclusive Commonwealth’, it seems an opportune time to start this venture. The University of Birmingham was a deliberate choice as Birmingham also exhibits the multi-religious diversity of the Commonwealth partly as much of its migration is Commonwealth Diaspora. Much of the Commonwealth has a great story to tell in terms of the human right, freedom of religion or belief; countries that are richly diverse religiously such as Trinidad, Guyana, Mauritius, Botswana, and Ghana have produced peaceful societies where there is not only freedom of worship but good inter religious relations. CIFoRB wants to learn why such countries are successful, what role the Parliamentarians have played and looks to build relationships with


Parliamentarians in countries where freedom of religion or belief is under strain. This is part of what I see as the often quoted ‘untapped potential’ of the Commonwealth to be; a nimble, ‘bureaucracy light’ network of countries that are all democracies, sharing a common language and legal system which is an ideal forum to build parliamentary relations to bring solutions for the Commonwealth people.


Lack of Faith


This was one of the most surprising aspects for a network like the Commonwealth that is so full of great NGO activity. I did not bump into one religious leader nor an ostensibly faith-based NGO in Malta at CHOGM 2015, many of who are delivering education, health care and human rights advocacy training in Commonwealth countries. The only part of the world that became less religious in the 20th


century


was Western Europe and, of the three European countries in the Commonwealth, only the UK probably represents that trend. Cyprus is still a heavily Greek Orthodox country and the Maltese Catholic churches seemed to be key parts of the community, not only tourist attractions. The religious diversity of the Commonwealth


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