Preliminary ideas for a project of the Triglav Circle
The issue
Since the last quarter of the 20thcentury, religions have an increasing presence in world affairs. A number of armed conflicts and tensions within countries have a religious dimension and it is a widely shared view that the Western power and political culture are being challenged by a renewed Islamic militancy. Regimes founded on Marxist materialism are crumbling and the Orthodox Church is again a force in Russia, while the virtues of Confucianism are debated in China. In the Western world itself, the Catholic Church faces a crisis but evangelical movements have a renewed political weight, notably in the United States of America.
The United Nations, put together after the cataclysm of World War II to maintain peace and security, propagate human rights and fundamental freedoms, and promote better standards of living and social progress, was built on the liberal political philosophy inherited form the Enlightenment. Its Charter, signed in San Francisco in 1946, reflects a view of human affairs separating sharply the public and the private domains and therefore the secular and the religious realms. To move the world towards the ideals of peace, freedom and justice, states were to cooperate through a diplomatic culture that was resolutely secular: religious convictions, doctrines and practices, and obviously religious controversies were best left out so as not to unduly complicate negotiations between sovereign states.
This model of functioning of the United Nations, also valid for the other intergovernmental international organizations, prevailed until the end of the 1980s. Religion was only indirectly and occasionally evoked in the United Nations when the Commission on Human Rights examined the implementation of the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on freedom of religion and belief. Then, with the disappearance of the Soviet Union, initiatives were made for more explicit and more open debates on faiths and religions in the United Nations. In 2000, on the occasion of the adoption of the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals, a meeting of religious and spiritual leaders took place in New York at the Headquarters of the United Nations. It was not a success.
Subsequently, a Dialogue of Civilizations, initiated by the President of Iran, led to a series of meetings and to resolutions of the General Assembly. This dialogue is now continuing, in some form, in UNESCO. It was replaced in the UN by the Alliance of Civilizations, also centered on the relations between Islam and the western world. But apart from the appointment of a Representative of the Secretary General, activities around this Alliance of Civilizations are very marginal to the United Nations. It is still essentially through the human rights lens that religion is mentioned in the United Nations. Notably, the Human Rights Council is currently debating the concept of “defamation of religions”. The role of the United Nations on matters of religion and its influence in a globalized and conflicted world is therefore very limited.
The project
Given its mandate and its universality in terms of membership, and given the renewed presence of the religious fact on the world scene, should the United Nations be a forum for debates on the role of religions in public affairs in the 21stcentury? With what sort of objectives? Through what institutional arrangements? With the participation of which actors?
These are the questions that the Triglav Circle would like to explore. The Circle, apart from the circumstances of its creation, benefit from a relatively large network of persons interested in these issues. It could also link with other organizations.
Most appropriate probably, would be the organization of a conference, prepared by informal meetings of the Circle. This conference (perhaps in the fall of 2011) would produce a report with concrete suggestions and recommendations and this report would be published and brought to the attention of the United Nations.
Questions to be addressed
The UN