Holy See: Religious freedom is violated in one third of the world

By Lisa Zengarini

Human rights, including those against freedom of thought, conscience and religion, continue to be violated on an alarming scale across the globe, the Holy See's Permanent Observer to the United Nations and Other International Organisations in Geneva said on Wednesday.

Discrimination and persecution of believers are on the rise

Speaking at the 55th Session of the Human Rights Council, which kicked off on  February 26, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, remarked that discrimination and persecution of believers are on the rise worldwide.

He cited the data from the Pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need which show that religious freedom is violated in almost one third of the world’s countries, affecting around 4.9 billion people.

The  former Nuncio to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (RDC) also lamented that in some Western countries, “religious discrimination and censorship are being perpetrated under the guise of ‘tolerance and inclusion’.”

International cooperation to protect the dignity of the human person

Regarding the general topic discussed at the session, Archbishop Ballestrero underscored that in pursuing “a more effective” international cooperation, as called for by Pope Francis to address the current challenges in a multipolar world, “especially in order to consolidate respect for the most elementary human rights”, the focus must remain of the dignity of the human person, which is the foundation of peace, as stated in 1948 by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

To improve multilateral diplomacy, he said, it is therefore important “to uphold values that are rooted in human dignity”.  This requires in turn “rebuilding a shared vision of our inherent nature.”

AI and the protection of fudamental human rights

Human dignity, continued the Vatican Observer, must become the guiding principle also in the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI).

“Advancements in this field should respect fundamental human rights and ought to serve, not compete with, our human potential”, he said. “The development of artificial intelligence can only be considered successful if we act responsibly and uphold fundamental human values.”

Archbishop Ballestrero went on to remark that many of the challenges we face today stem from “a lack of respect for human dignity and a failure to recognize our interconnectedness.”

"New rights" threaten human dignity and fraternity

He recalled the attempts to introduce so called “new rights” that question the sacredness of every human life, and “not always consistent with what is truly good for the human person”.

These “new rights”, said the Nuncio, have lead to what Pope Francis has termed as an  “ideological colonisation” that undermines human dignity, as well as human fraternity,  as they create “divisions between cultures, societies, and States, rather than fostering unity and peace.”

“Universal fraternity is an essential condition for the full realisation of human rights in today’s world”, the Vatican Observer concluded. “When we fail to acknowledge that we are all interconnected, we all suffer.”