International Legal Instruments

To raise awareness about religious rights and to provide tools for decision-makers in governments, parliaments, and civil society, UNESCO's MOST Programme has collected the most relevant provisions in international conventions, declarations and multilateral treaties, which pertain to the freedom of religion or belief and to the rights of religious minorities.

• UN Declarations and Conventions Relevant to Religious Rights
• European Declarations and Conventions Relevant to Religious Rights
• Inter-American Declarations and Conventions Relevant to Religious Rights
• African Declarations and Conventions Relevant to Religious Rights

The right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief as well as the rights of persons belonging to religious minorities have been increasingly acknowledged in international human rights law. The following list contains all major UN declarations and conventions pertinent to these rights. For legal discussions of the provisions listed below see the publications displayed in the Bibliography. 

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
• Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951)
• UNESCO Convention Against Discrimination in Education (1960)
• International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965)
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
• Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Interolance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief (1981)
• Declaration on the Human Rights of Individuals who are not Nationals of the Country in Which They Live (1985)
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
• International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (1990)
• Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (1992)

Within the frameworks of the Council of Europe and the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), the freedom of religion or belief and the rights of persons belonging to religious minorities have been addressed in several multilateral treaties and conventions. The most important are: 

• European Convention on Human Rights (1950) and Protocol Nr. 11 (1954)
• Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (1975)
• Concluding Document of the Madrid Meeting of the CSCE (1983)
• Concluding Document of the Vienna Meeting of the CSCE (1989)
• Charter of Paris for a New Europe (1990)
• Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the CSCE (1990)
• CSCE Helsinki Summit Decisions (1992)
• Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted at the World Conference on Human Rights (1993)
• Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1994)

Religious rights are recognized in various declarations or conventions of the Organization of American States (O.A.S.) such as: 

• American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (1948)
• American Convention of Human Rights (1969)
• Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1988)

Religious rights are recognized in various regional declarations or conventions in Africa such as: 

• African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (1981)
• African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child