Safeguarding human rights against discriminatory religious profiling with the context of religious terrorism
Serb, Dan-Gheorghe
The main question of this theoretical and phenomenological qualitative
research study conducted in Ireland was: What can be done to strengthen the
safeguarding of religious liberties while still allowing effective measures
against terrorism? The line of reasoning employed in answering this question
began with the assertion that religious terrorism has raised major concerns
regarding the role of religion in today’s society and therefore reinforced the
idea that violence is innate to religion. It was shown, however, that the
premise that violence is inherent to religion has been scholastically
challenged and a new alternative has been developed, namely, that religion is
often used as a front for political, economic and territorial disputes.
It was further revealed that ideological religious fundamentalism (or
religionism), whereby ‘truth’ is conceptualised in absolutist ways, often leads
to extremism and radicalism, which can manifest through violent acts (often
referred to as religious terrorism). Consequently, national and international
security are high on the political agendas of most world nations and, as a
response to the threat terrorism poses, counterterrorism measures have been
developed and implemented. Many of these measures make use of profiling
practices in order to identify and monitor prospective perpetrators. There are
various forms of profiling with racial and ethnic profiling being best known;
religious profiling is also prevalent, especially in regard to people from Muslim
backgrounds, and it is often practiced under the guise of ethnic and/or racial
profiling. The study has further shown that profiling, including religious profiling, is a
practice which often infringes on the human rights of individuals and groups of
individuals. A strategy therefore needs to be implemented to safeguard the
protection of human rights and liberties (including religious liberty). This is
even more imperative as the danger exists for religious discrimination to
become covertly systemic. The strategy developed for the safeguarding of
religious liberties rests on three pillars: (1) awareness and advocacy, (2)
lobbying, and (3) networking, and its foundational premise is that there is an
imperative need to create space for religious profiling awareness and to
promote the inclusion of the term and concept ‘religious profiling’ in legal
documentation and treaties.
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