Mechanisms for religious freedom advocacy

Authors

  • Knox Thames

Keywords:

Advocacy, United Nations, European Union, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Council of Europe, African Union, Organization of American States, United States, persecution

Abstract

While domestic options for redress of violations of religious freedom may be few or futile, there is an array of mechanisms at the international level that religious freedom advocates can access to help bring relief to those suffering persecution and repression. However, to be effective, advocates must have an understanding of international law and be precise with their facts and terminology. The article highlights key points for those who wish to engage, and points to resources that can equip individuals for effective advocacy, including international bodies which can be approached.

Author Biography

Knox Thames

Knox Thames joined the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in February 2009 as the Director of Policy and Research. Before coming to the Commission, he worked in the Office of International Religious Freedom at the U.S. Department of State, and was the lead State Department officer on religious freedom issues in multilateral fora, such as the UN and OSCE. Mr. Thames also served as Counsel for six years at the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission), where he was the point-person on religious freedom matters, on issues involving refugees and internally displaced persons, and focused on democracy and human rights in Central Asia. In 2004, Mr. Thames was appointed by the State Department to the OSCE Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief, and in 2010 was invited to join the Council on Foreign Relations as a term member. Mr. Thames earned a J.D. with honors from the American University Washington College of Law. He also holds a Master's in International Affairs from the American University School of International Service. An author of numerous articles on a range of human rights issues, his book International religious freedom advocacy was released in August 2009 by Baylor University Press. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the views of the Commission.

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Published

2023-01-18

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2011): Advocacy and Law

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2011 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)