‘Faith for Rights’ in Armed Conflict: Lessons from Practice

This article examines how the Beirut Declaration and its 18 Commitments on ‘Faith for Rights’ have been implemented in practice since 2017. It focuses on case studies from Afghanistan, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and hypothetical ‘cases to debate’ of the #Faith4Rights toolkit. The latter provides a peer-to-peer learning methodology to share the experiences of faith-based actors in dealing with tensions among human rights and in addressing armed conflicts across the globe. The 2017 Beirut Declaration, and the underlying 2012 Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of incitement to hatred, acknowledge the positive or negative roles of religious leaders and their responsibilities during armed conflict and beyond. These declarations have been considered soft law instruments since they are regularly referred to in reports by the United Nations Secretary-General, High Commissioner, Special Rapporteurs, Treaty Bodies, the European Union and the Council of Europe. Furthermore, social media companies and Meta’s Oversight Board use the Rabat threshold test when making content moderation decisions on Facebook and Instagram, including in situations of armed conflict or in regions that have a recent history of conflict. This article concludes that the #Faith4Rights toolkit provides a rights-based approach for bringing together the two worlds of faith and human rights. Its peer-to-peer learning methodology seeks to reflect and facilitate measurable changes rather than focusing only on inter-religious dialogue as such. It also provides concrete guidance to the—often daunting—task for facilitators of peer-to-peer learning events and for mediators in an armed conflict.