“Faith for Rights”: a Framework for Rights-Based Sustainable Engagement with Faith Actors

Abstract This article outlines the rationale and use of the “Faith for Rights” framework, through which the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights provides space for cross-disciplinary reflection and interfaith action on the connections between religions and human rights. The article analyses the preambular Beirut Declaration and its corresponding 18 operational commitments on “Faith for Rights”, whose implementation is supported by the peer-to-peer learning methodology of the #Faith4Rights toolkit. The article concludes that the framework and toolkit have been deemed useful by various stakeholders at the national, regional and global levels, notably in the context of the UN Forum on Minority Issues and the Council of Europe’s recommendation to member states on combating hate speech. Finally, the article suggests developing a “Faith for Rights commUNity of practices”, including regular exchanges to showcase related initiatives, projects and partnerships as well as to explore areas of future cooperation.