CHARTER AS OF JANUARY 2024

As individuals and organizations who represent diverse religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds, we stand united in our goal of promoting freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, and expression for everyone. 

We firmly oppose laws that restrict an individual’s right to choose a faith, practice a faith, change their religion, not have a religion, tell others about their beliefs and practices, or openly debate and discuss aspects of faith or belief. Restricting the freedom to choose one’s religion, to change it or to question religion or belief doctrines is an assault on the very core of human nature. 

Today at least 21 countries criminalize apostasy, including countries which maintain the death penalty for apostasy or blasphemy in Afghanistan, Brunei Darussalam, Iran, two states in Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, several states in Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, United Arab Emirates, and  Yemen.

Even where the death penalty is not applied it has a “chilling effect” on the legitimate exercise of fundamental human rights as noted by the UN Secretary General in his report on the death penalty.[2] It is used to justify the incommunicado detention, physical and psychological torture, denial of legal representation and medical care, and prolonged detention that often coincide with death sentences on the grounds of religion or belief. 

The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief has noted how where domestic laws provide for the death penalty for apostasy or blasphemy, “it is more likely that the existence of such laws will encourage vigilante mobs or zealots to murder those alleged to have violated those laws.”

We therefore call on States to: 

• Embed language into the biennial UN General Assembly resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, demanding the removal of the punishment of the death penalty, both in practice and in law, for apostasy or blasphemy. 
• Take note of the UN Human Rights Council statement of 9 March 2021, signed by over 50 UN member states, which emphasises that there are no circumstances in which the death penalty should ever be imposed or carried out as a sanction against persons for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms.  
  
• Release individuals currently on death row or otherwise imprisoned for these offences.  
• Speak with one voice in the UN and other multilateral fora and condemn unequivocally the imposition of the death penalty for the exercise of fundamental freedoms including freedom of religion or belief.  

We call on civil society working for the repeal of the death penalty to: 

• Support embedding language into the biennial UN General Assembly resolution on the extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, demanding the removal of the punishment of the death penalty, both in practice and in law, for apostasy or blasphemy. 
• Take note of the UN Special Procedures’ recommendations and the Human Rights Council statement of 9 March 2021, signed by over 50 UN member states, all pointing to how capital offences for apostasy and blasphemy are used to target specific minorities.  
• Speak with one voice in the UN and other multilateral fora and condemn unequivocally the imposition of the death penalty for the exercise of fundamental freedoms including freedom of religion or belief, in law and practice.