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Freedom of religion or belief

The right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief is guaranteed by key international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the 1981 United Nations Declaration on Religious Intolerance.

Freedom of religion or belief is far-reaching and profound. It encompasses not just the freedom to hold personal thoughts and convictions, but also being able to manifest them individually or with others, publicly or in private. It also includes the freedom to subscribe to different schools of thought within a religion, and to change one’s religion or beliefs or to adopt no faith at all. It forbids discrimination against individuals who have, or wish to have, different beliefs. It prohibits the use of coercion to make someone hold or change their religion or belief.

The right to hold a religion or belief is absolute, but the right to manifest one’s religion may be subject to certain limitations. The restrictions are not limitless: as Article 18.3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) sets out, any restrictions must be prescribed by law and be necessary to “protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others”.  

Religious freedom is a valuable indicator of wider democratic principles and together with freedom of expression is often a gateway to other fundamental freedoms. Freedom of religion or belief and freedom of opinion and expression are interdependent, interrelated and mutually reinforcing.

Promoting the right to freedom of religion or belief is important to achieving the UK's foreign policy priorities. In countries around the world, religious freedom is often crucial to the success of conflict prevention and post-conflict peace-building. Indeed, many conflicts have their roots in the tensions between different religious communities. Violence against a religious group can also be a forewarning of wider conflict.

Protecting religious freedoms and preventing discrimination on religious grounds are priority human rights issues for the UK government. Since 2009 the Foreign & Commonwealth Office has been using a Freedom of Religion or Belief “toolkit” to help its embassies and high commissions implement our policy in this area. They are encouraged to draw on the toolkit in raising our concerns about religious freedom with their host governments whenever issues arise and in taking action on cases of persecution or discrimination. We also lobby for changes in discriminatory practices and laws.  

We promote freedom of religion or belief in our bilateral and EU human rights dialogues and through work in the UN and other international organisations to uphold universal standards. The FCO also publishes an Annual Human Rights Report each spring which covers our work on human rights issues in the preceding year and looks in-depth at the freedom of religion or belief situation globally and in a number of countries of concern.

The UK takes every opportunity to reaffirm its position and is committed to the elimination of all forms of discrimination, including those based on religion and belief. We condemn all instances of violence and discrimination against individuals and groups because of their faith or belief, wherever they happen and whatever the religion of the individual or group concerned.

For more information on what the FCO is doing to promote the freedom of religion internationally, contact the equalities team:

MSU.PublicIn@fco.gsi.gov.uk