Working with the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief is an important aspect of IHEU’s work at the International institutions. The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief is an independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. The Special Rapporteur’s mandate is to ‘identify existing and emerging obstacles to the enjoyment of the right to freedom of religion or belief and present recommendations on ways and means to overcome such obstacles’.

The Special Rapporteur examines incidents and governmental actions that are incompatible with the provisions of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief and recommends remedial measures as appropriate. In the discharge of her mandate the Special Rapporteur transmits urgent appeals and communications to States with regard to cases that represent infringements of or impediments to the exercise of the right to freedom of religion and belief, undertakes fact-finding country visits and submits annual reports to the Human Rights Council, and General Assembly, on the activities, trends and methods of work. The Special Rapporteur then submits regular reports to the Human Rights Council which attract wide attention.

IHEU worked with great success with Prof. Abdelfateh Amor of Tunisia between 1999 and 2004 when IHEU was given a prominent place in the various initiatives of the Special Rapporteur, including the invitation by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to Babu Gogineni, David Pollock, Liesbeth Mulder, Margaret Downey, Luc Devuyst to participate as subject experts in the UN’s International Consultative Conference in Madrid on Freedom of Religion or Belief in School Education.

Since 2004, IHEU has worked with his successor Ms. Asma Jahangir, the courageous defender of democracy in her native Pakistan. After she was appointed Special Rapporteur, she met with IHEU’s International Representative in New York, Matt Cherry, in his capacity as President of the UN NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief when she acknowledged IHEU’s role in rescuing Dr. Shaikh from blasphemy death row in Pakistan. In 2007 she met with a delegation of Humanists and Secularists in the UK when IHEU arranged for a meeting for its UK member organisations with her.

In March 2008, Babu Gogineni led a team of Humanist leaders in India to meet with Ms. Jahangir in Mumbai, and made an hour-long presentation to her on the situation vis a vis the freedom of belief for Humanists in the sub-continent.