Written by Tobi Odanye, Research Assistant for RACE and BSWN placement student.
The 22nd of August 2021 marks the second anniversary of the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts or Violence Based on Religion or Belief.
The international recognition of this day, founded by the United Nations, represents an effort to raise awareness for what in the modern world should be respected as fundamental human rights. Indeed, as per Article 9 of the Equality Human Rights Act, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes the freedom to change religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private”.
Through nearly all of human history, however, there have been victims who have suffered at the hands of religious and/or cultural persecution. Indeed, Crusades and wars dating back hundreds of years have been sparked by hostility between different religions and cultures. Often, such wars have been one-sided, and in the most extreme cases amounted to mass genocide seen in incomprehensible events such as the World War 2 Holocaust.
Today, although such violence is not as common nor rife on the scale it once was, there remains shocking examples of such persecution.
China has recently been accused of abusing the human rights of Uyghur Muslims, a religious group that account for 12 million of the county’s population. There have been shocking reports and evidence of slavery, torture and abuse towards Uyghurs. Many human rights groups even suggest there is evidence of genocide in the worst-case scenario.
The flaring conflict this year in the Israel-Palestine crisis has also highlighted severe violence originating from a complicated and fragile relationship between territory and religion dating back hundreds of years. Over 250 Palestinians consisting of 66 children were killed as a result of the violence, with nearly 2000 injured.
These severe examples of violence are what make remembering such victims so important not just on the 22nd of August, but every day that follows as violence and persecution continues every day on smaller but equally unethical scales. In the UK, antisemitism and islamophobia, among other religious bigotry, have been difficult to eradicate from society. Indeed, such bigotry has sometimes even emanated from within political parties, the very groups who are meant to protect and advocate the rights of all citizens. Furthermore, there have been many examples of physical violence and hate crimes sometimes even including murder. The presence of such prejudice is worrying and dangerous, as it has been demonstrated so many times throughout history how easily violence can escalate from bigoted undertones and isolated hate crimes to severe and large scale violence.
By remembering and commemorating the victims of such violence both in history and the modern world, society is offered a stark reminder of the importance of establishing peace and respect between different religions and cultures. Indeed, there are examples of how different religions and cultures can integrate, co-exist and build strong, positive relationships in all walks of life. There should be hope that in the future, such violence will be eradicated from society as we live in a world more connected than ever before with more and more opportunities to understand one another.