Confronting giants

At the UN, we’re confronting giants: powerful states and deeply entrenched abuses that rarely change with a single statement or policy decision.

This means we often witness smaller victories on the way towards a bigger goal. We may see improvement in conditions before we see a person released from detention, for example. It doesn’t stop us from offering big, bold, faith-filled prayers for change.  However, we recognise that advocacy also requires credible research, careful strategy and persistence. 

Many of you will be familiar with the work of the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on North Korea in 2013. CSW played a foundational role in its establishment through a 2007 report written together with REDRESS, ‘A case to answer, a call to act’, which urged the international community to launch a formal investigation. We rejoiced when the UN took this step, but it followed years of faithfully documenting and reporting on the violations in the country. Its success hinged on patient, consistent research and advocacy.

Our credible research continues to carry weight at the UN, and we regularly meet with UN experts and share our findings with them. In June we had a meeting with the members of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, who explicitly thanked CSW. They told us they had started monitoring and reporting on violations of freedom of religion or belief as a direct result of our engagement and the quality of information we share with them. 

While progress within international mechanisms is important, I believe that the impact of sustained advocacy is perhaps felt most keenly when it affects the lives of individuals directly.

During a workshop with a group of religious leaders and human rights defenders, we were discussing how they could engage directly with the UN human rights mechanisms and how to submit cases of concern. One person shared how he had served a prison sentence of over 10 years, and at some point his conditions improved. When he was released, he learned that during his detention a group of UN Special Procedures (independent experts) had issued a communication to the government of his country regarding his situation, which CSW had submitted with his family’s consent and a full risk assessment. While he had had to serve his full sentence, he was able to correlate the improvement in his prison conditions with this intervention. 

Not only do we raise cases with the UN but we also use our UN accreditation to facilitate the participation of those who are directly affected by human rights violations. This means they can speak directly to the UN, giving their own accounts. We believe that the decisions the UN makes should centre the voices of those affected. Delegations of religious leaders and defenders of freedom of religion or belief have joined us at the UN in Geneva from around the world, including Cuba, Iran, Nigeria and Sudan. These courageous individuals can then look injustice directly in the eye, bearing witness to the truth and calling for change. 

‘Within 24 hours, they had received a call’

One memory that has stayed with me is of a Chinese human rights defender who spoke during a UN plenary session. Their relative, a member of a religious and ethnic minority community, had been detained incommunicado for several years. During the session, they called on the Chinese government to allow communication with their relative and to  release them. Within 24 hours, they had received a call from the detention facility. It was brief, but for the first time in years they were able to hear their loved one’s voice: proof that they were still alive. The relief and hope that this call brought cannot be underestimated. Moments like this remind us that even the most powerful nations still respond to public pressure. 

We believe that every advocacy action we take brings us closer to the day when those who are unjustly detained are set free and discriminatory laws are no more. Driven by bold prayers and steady action, we continue to move forward with confidence that we are bending the arc of history that little bit further towards justice.